The Wayfaring Darkness
by Yaridovich23
Summary: Draxnew, after escaping Organization XIII, becomes a Konoha Shinobi.
1. The Darkness Hidden in the Leaves

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew.

Warning: Rated M for language and violence!

Chapter 1: The Darkness Hidden in the Leaves

Draxnew jumped from the ledge, leaving his three comrades behind. "I'm so sorry, Xion…" Draxnew muttered as he fell from the castle ledge and sped towards the dark streets below, the wind howled around him and deafened him so he did not hear the cries of rage from above. A kunai whizzed by his face, the weapon giving off electricity. "Oh my god!" Draxnew did the first thing he could think of, to run. He snapped his fingers and the streets below, and everything around him, vanished.

"AAAH!" Draxnew yelled as he fell face first onto some dirt. He rubbed his head and got up. "Where am I?" Draxnew looked around. He appeared to be in a village of sorts. Tall buildings everywhere, people bustling this way and that. He noticed something extremely odd, there were trees everywhere. All around the village, there were towering trees, some were even tangled in the houses but it seemed nobody cared about them. "Where am I?" Draxnew muttered to himself and brushing the dirt from his clothes.

A young boy was just finishing his ramen when he heard a yell from behind him. He turned around. He saw a brunette boy with confused, brown eyes. He wore a black hooded coat, with the hood down. He also had black pants, gloves, and shoes. There was a zipper on his coat, it was all the way zipped, but halfway down the coat it was unzipped. The boy heard the boy question his location. "You're at Ichiraku Ramen, the best place to eat in Konoha!" The young boy said.

"Huh?" Draxnew turned around and saw a boy about his age who was wearing green goggles and an orange jumpsuit with red swirls on it. He had yellow hair that was extremely spiky and sapphire-blue eyes, but the weirdest thing about him was that he had three marks on each cheek that looked like whiskers.

"I'm…uh…new around here." Draxnew lied.

"New, huh?" The boy asked, tilting his head to the side slightly. It's obvious the boy wasn't smart to fall for such an obvious lie. "Well, this is Konoha. Home of the Leaf Shinobi!" He said with shining eyes and his voice heavy with pride.

'Shinobi, huh?' Draxnew thought. 'If I can become a Shinobi, that organization wouldn't be able to kill me if I were found.'

"Are you a Shinobi?" The boy asked, interrupting Draxnew's thoughts.

"Uh, no. Are you?" Draxnew asked.

"Well, almost. If I pass the exams today, I'll become a Genin!" The boy replied. "Do you want to be a Shinobi?"

"Uh, would your school let me do so?" Draxnew asked. "I'm a total stranger."

"Well, you're about my age, so you couldn't be of any danger or something like that. By the way, what's your name?"

"Draxnew. Yours?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto replied. "Come on, I'll lead you to the Academy."

Naruto started walking and Draxnew followed. As they were walking, Draxnew looked up and noticed a mountain with the faces of four men carved into it. The one on the far left was a young man wearing a bandana of sorts. Just by looking at him, he seemed intelligent and calm. The second face was stern and had spiky hair and is wearing a helmet of sorts. The third face had spiky hair and a beard, he seemed very wise. The final face seemed to be the youngest of the four and had the look of a courageous man. "What's with that mountain?" Draxnew asked.

"That's Hokage Mountain, each Hokage has their face carved into it." Naruto replied.

"What's a Hokage?" Draxnew asked, scratching the side of his head.

"The leader of Konoha." Naruto replied, giving Draxnew a confused look.

"I see…" Draxnew muttered. The next several minutes are spent in silence as Naruto and Draxnew pass winding trees and busy crowds. They then go inside a semi-large building.

"This is the Academy." Naruto said. "You wait out here. I'll get my sensei." Naruto goes into one of the Academy's rooms. Draxnew waits for a few minutes and then Naruto comes out followed by someone. He was a man with a scar on his nose, and brown hair in a ponytail, he wore a forehead protector on his forehead with a leaf symbol on it and he wore a green vest. He looks down at Draxnew.

"This kid, huh? Where are you from?" Iruka asked Draxnew and looking him over.

"Uh. Somewhere very far away." Draxnew replied, trying to avoid looking into Iruka's eyes.

"Well, we can't just let you join the Academy if we don't know where you're from. In fact, I should take you to the Hokage. For all I know, you could be a spy." Iruka said.

"But Iruka-sensei! The guy's my age, how much of a threat could he be?" Naruto argued.

"I suppose you're right. Even if he was dangerous, Izumo and Kotetsu would've done something about him entering the village. But, you still can't join. I'm sorry." Iruka said.

"Damn." Draxnew muttered, looking at the ground.

"Sorry, Draxnew." Naruto apologized.

"It's fine. I'll catch you later I guess." Draxnew said and left while Naruto and Iruka went back into the room.

"That was stupid of you. What if he was dangerous?!" Iruka scolded and gave Naruto a slap on the back of the head.

"Ow! I'm sorry, he just didn't seem dangerous." Naruto said while rubbing his head.

"Things aren't always as they seem." Iruka replied.

Meanwhile, Draxnew found a tree with a lone swing on it, he sat against the tree. Traveling between worlds was exhausting and Draxnew immediately fell asleep. Hours later, Draxnew was woken up by the sound of men shouting, it was night. Draxnew climbed the tree and looked around and saw men with green vests like Iruka's running around, they seemed to be searching for something. "What the hell is going on?" Draxnew muttered, he then saw Iruka dashing into a crowded forest and decided to follow. Iruka didn't seem to notice Draxnew, perhaps he was so determined to accomplish whatever he was doing. Iruka entered a clearing and Draxnew hid behind a tree and listened intently.

"I've found you!" Iruka's voice shouted.

"Oh, hey sensei." Another voice came up, the voice was Naruto's.

"How did you steal that scroll?!" Iruka asked.

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it." Naruto said.

'Scroll? What's going on?' Draxnew thought.

"Nice job finding the kid." A voice sneered. The voice sounded odd, as if he was in a trance of sorts. It was deep and gravely, like he was gurgling glass while speaking.

"Mizuki! What are you- AGGGGGGHHHHH!!" Iruka's voice rang out and Naruto screamed.

"Enough!" Draxnew came from behind the tree into the clearing. "What the?!" Draxnew saw a white-haired man. Though, he looked mutated. His sclera were all yellow, missing irises and pupils. He had jagged teeth and a vine jutting from his back, choking Iruka.

"Don't interfere." Mizuki said, barely glancing in Draxnew's direction.

"Draxnew! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Don't worry." Draxnew summoned his Dark Sword. The sword was pitch black and about four feet long. "I'll kill him!" Draxnew charged at Mizuki, who backhanded him into a tree.

"Annoying brat." Mizuki grunted.

"R-Run…get out of here…" Iruka choked out, trying in vain to pry the vine from around his neck.

"I won't leave you sensei!! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!" Naruto shouted and a dozen clones appeared.

"It seems you have some skill. But you're coming with me." Mizuki said. Three more vines sprouted from his back and two of them elevated him off the ground. The last vine swiped at Naruto, who ducked and a scroll on his back is knocked away somewhere.

"No way!" Naruto shouted and all his clones attacked, but are all taken out with one swing of the vine, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Na…ruto…" Iruka passed out and Mizuki tossed him aside nonchalantly.

"What do you want from me?!" Naruto demanded.

"The creature sealed inside you, the Kyubi no Yoko." Mizuki said.

"The Kyubi…what's the Kyubi?" Naruto asked.

"A giant, nine-tailed fox that attacked the village fifteen years ago. The Yondaime Hokage sealed it, inside of you, Naruto." Mizuki answered.

Saying Naruto was shocked would be an understatement. So many thoughts rushed through his head that he just froze and didn't notice the vine wrapping around his body. "Naruto! Snap out of it!" Draxnew yelled and a small orb of shadow appeared in his hand, he threw it at the vine wrapping around Naruto.

"AAHH!" Mizuki yelled. He retracts the vine. "You little…!"

Naruto snapped out of his trance and made a hand sign. "Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and about a hundred clones appeared. "Nobody messes with my sensei!" The original Naruto said, his killer intent growing. They all lunged at Mizuki.

"Oh no…" Mizuki wildly lashed his vines that destroyed all the clones. 'The kid is stronger than he looks.'

Draxnew leapt at Mizuki, ready to strike with his Dark Sword. He slashed off one of the vines, but the part he cut off grew back. "What the hell?!" Draxnew's eyes widened in surprise.

"Stay out of this." Mizuki growled.

Draxnew made clones that enveloped from the shadows. "No way you freak." Draxnew said coldly

'He can make clones? Just who is he?' Naruto thought.

"Hm. Interesting." Mizuki muttered. He summoned more vines from his back and stabbed the clones which made them vanish, the real Draxnew barely dodged. He threw a shadow orb at Mizuki and managed him in the chest which stunned him.

"Take this!" Naruto took this opportunity to jump into the air and dropkick Mizuki in the face, which sent him to the ground and knocked him out.

"Ugh…" Mizuki groaned. The vines vanished and his teeth became human.

Iruka groaned and woke up. "Naruto…?" He said wearily.

"I'm fine, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted. He sat on the ground, exhausted from using so much energy.

Draxnew walked over to where the scroll is. "No! He's gonna steal the-" Iruka said but was stunned to see Draxnew bringing it back.

"Here you go." Draxnew said and gave the scroll to Iruka.

'Maybe he's trustworthy after all. If he wanted to steal that scroll, he would've done it.' Iruka thought. Though, Iruka didn't know that Draxnew had no idea what the scroll was. "Naruto, where did you learn such a technique?" Iruka asked.

"I studied the scroll and practiced until I got it right." Naruto replied.

'Amazing, he mastered that technique in less than an hour.' Iruka thought. "Well, I guess this means you're now a Genin." Iruka said.

"You really mean it?!" Naruto asked with glee.

"Well, the test was to make clones, so yes." Iruka replied.

"Yes! I'm finally a Genin! But…what about Draxnew? He helped." Naruto said.

"Well, just a little…" Draxnew said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I think he's proven to be trustworthy, so yes, he shall also be made a Genin and hopefully an official Konoha citizen." Iruka said with a smile.

Draxnew cheered at the top of lungs. "Yeah! I'm a Shinobi!"

Meanwhile, an old man was watching the events in a crystal ball. He was in fact the man whose face was on Hokage mountain, with the spiky hair. A Shinobi ran into the room the old man was in. "Hokage sir-" The man raised his hand and the Shinobi went silent.

"Everything is alright. The scroll will be returned soon." The Hokage said. "As with two new Genin and a new Konoha citizen. Call off the search for the scroll." He added.

"Yes sir!" The Shinobi left. The Hokage smiled to himself.

In a cold, damp cave elsewhere, there stood two men. Though something was odd about them. Their bodies were transparent and flickering, like holograms. One of the men seemed extremely plant like, with giant Venus flytrap-type jaws around his head. He had yellow eyes and a black cloak with red clouds. The other man had the same cloak, spiky hair, and a swirling mask. The mask had one eyehole, showing an odd eye that was red with strange black markings. "Unfortunately, Mizuki under my Hoshi Rimokon no Jutsu, failed to get the Kyubi." The plant-like man said.

"How did he fail?" The second man asked, he had an extremely calm voice but his disappointment lingered in the air.

"There was interference, **some boy in a black coat**." This time, it seems as if the plant-like man had two voices, or a split personality of sorts.

"Hmmm. You have the recordings from Mizuki, correct?" The red-eyed man asked.

"Of course." The plant-man replied.

"Good, come to my location so I can view them, Zetsu." The red-eyed man said.

"Yes, Madara-sama." Zetsu's holographic form vanished, as did Madara's.

The newly graduated Genin were unaware of the events that had taken place last night and were all shocked to see Naruto enter in the classroom with the official headband. They were also taken back at Draxnew entering the class after Naurto, as none of them saw him before. 'So, these are the other Genin Naruto told me about.' Draxnew thought. He looked around the room and saw about thirty Genin Naruto and himself, Iruka was also there, standing in at the front of the room. The person closest to him was an obese boy wolfing down potato chips. He wore a long, white scarf with a short-sleeved green jacket with a shirt underneath with a symbol of sorts, he had bandages around his arms, earrings, swirls on his cheeks and wore his bandana on his head in a way so two tuffs of brown, spiky hair poked out.

Next to him was a boy with a ponytail. The boy wore a grey shirt with blue circles on the sleeves, on his left arm was his headband, and underneath the shirt was a fishnet-like shirt. The boy's face was hidden in his arms as he slept. "Shikamaru, wake up!" A voice shrilled. A girl behind the sleeping boy threw a pencil at him, waking him up.

"Yeah, yeah…" The boy mumbled and looked up. The girl who woke Shikamaru up had blue eyes and was wearing purple, she had a ponytail that seemed to go down to her waist, but the desk she was sitting at blocked the view.

Further on, there was a boy with a grey hooded coat and wore his headband around his forehead. Atop of the boy's head was a smile white dog, snoozing under the raised hood. He had brown hair, red markings under his eyes and a canine-like look.

Next to the boy with the dog was a shy-looking girl. She had dark black hair cut short above her ears save for two strands on either side of her face that went to her chin. Around her neck was her headband. She had odd, pale eyes, she wore a pale hooded jacket.

Behind her was an odd boy with brown hair, with his headband around his forehead. He wore black shades and had a monotone expression. He wore a sea green collared jacket and there wasn't much noticeable about him.

At the far side of the room sat a dark boy. He had raven hair with a slight blue tint and cold eyes. He wore a blue shirt with a red and white fan on the back. He didn't even glance at Draxnew. There were many other Genin as well.

"Who is that?" A Genin asked. This Genin was a girl with long, light pink hair and emerald eyes. She wore her headband so that it was in her hair and faced upwards. She wore a red shirt with white circular designs. "Also, why are you here Naruto?" She asked accusingly.

Iruka answered before Naurto could. "Naruto proved himself worthy of Genin status, and this boy is our newest student, Draxnew…er…what's your last name?" Iruka asked.

"I don't really have one." Draxnew replied.

"How do you not have a last name?" The boy with the dog on his head asked.

"I just don't." Draxnew said with a shrug.

"Yeah, but-" The boy with the dog started.

"Let it go, Kiba." Iruka said.

"Alright. Sorry." Kiba said. Draxnew and Naruto sat down next to each other.

"Now then, today we'll be getting into our teams. First off is Team Ten, the team leader is Sarutobi Asuma. The team members are as follows: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji, and Yamanaka Ino." Iruka announced. Shikamaru and the chubby boy known as Chōji grin while the blond girl, Ino, sighs and lowers her head a little. A man with a green vest like Iruka's entered the room. He had brown eyes and spiky black hair and a spiky beard. He also had a lit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. He had a laid back look to him and seemed friendly and hard to anger. "Hello Asuma, here's your team." Iruka said with a smile, Asuma nodded in response. Chōji, Ino, and Shikamaru stood up and leave with Asuma. "Team Eight's leader is Yūhi Kurenai. The members are Hyūga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba." Iruka announced.

A woman entered the room. Unlike Asuma and Iruka, she lacked a green vest. She wore bandages on her arms and had a white shirt and a fishnet shirt underneath that. She had flowing black hair and ruby-red eyes. "Hello Iruka." She greeted.

"Hello Kurenai." Iruka responded. Kiba, the shy girl who was revealed as Hinata, and the boy with the glasses revealed as Shino, got up and followed Kurenai out the door.

"Alright. Team Seven. The team leader is Hatake Kakashi. The members are Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Draxnew." Iruka announced.

"What? Why do we have four members?" The pink haired girl, Sakura, asked.

"Well, Draxnew came at such short notice so one team needs four members." Iruka explained.

"This is awesome!" Naruto yelled. The boy in the blue shirt, Sasuke, didn't react.

Iruka continued to call off teams and the other team leaders took them away, yet Kakashi never showed up. Soon everyone was gone but Team Seven and Iruka. "Well, he has a knack for being late." Iruka said after Naruto asked where their sensei was. "He'll show up though, don't worry." Iruka left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Damn! Where is he?!" Naruto said, about an hour after Iruka left.

"Shut up, Iruka-sensei said he'd come." Sakura scolded. She turned to Draxnew who was sitting beside her, staring out the window. "So, where are you from?" She asked him, trying to get to know the mysterious boy.

Draxnew snapped out of his daze. "I'd…rather not say." Draxnew said uncomfortably.

"Then how do we know we can trust you?" Sasuke asked, speaking for the first time since Naruto and Draxnew arrived earlier.

"Well, the Hokage made me an official citizen of Konoha, so you can speak to him if you disagree." Draxnew replied. Sasuke just glanced away.

The door slowly opened and a man walked in. He wore the usual green vest and blue jumpsuit with steel plates on the back of the hands. He had silver hair which stood tall and went off to the right. Unlike his hair, the man slouched slightly, as if he didn't have the pride to stand tall. The weird thing about this man was that his jumpsuit went all the way up to his face, covering it from the top of the nose down, except for his right eye which stared off with a cold, longing expression. His headband was tilted so it covered his left eye. "Hello." The man said, his voice was relaxed as if he was bored and couldn't try to care about his team. "I'm Hatake Kakashi."

**First chapter finally done! I'd like to thank PeinsDisciple for helping me with this chapter, later chapters, and the title. Thanks, man!**


	2. To Prove Ourselves Worthy!

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew. I wonder, does Kakashi chew gum under that mask? No one would be able to tell…

Chapter 2: To Prove Ourselves Worthy!

In the near empty classroom, the members of Team Seven stared at Kakashi for a few seconds. He stared back. "Uh…what is it?" Kakashi asked nervously, looking over his students with his lone eye.

Naruto pointed at Kakashi. "WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU? We were waiting for hours!" Naruto roared, glaring at Kakashi.

Kakashi raised his hands in defense. "Calm down, there was this pretty woman who needed help with-" Kakashi started but was interrupted.

"Enough excuses!" Draxnew snapped. He crossed his arms in a childish manner. "You took far too long." Draxnew also glared at Kakashi.

Kakashi's lone eye rolled in slight annoyance, but Draxnew ignored it. "Just from the attitude of these two boys, I already hate you all." Kakashi said calmly and possibly smiled, though, behind the mask it was hard to tell.

"Way to go, you idiots." Sasuke said, directing a soul-piercing glare towards Naruto and Draxnew. Neither of them noticed and continued to glare at Kakashi.

"Anyway, let's go to the roof and talk for a little bit." Kakashi said and sauntered out the door, the four Genin followed. Everyone took a seat once they got to the roof. Draxnew sat between Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke sat next to Naruto. Kakashi sat in front of the Genin. "Alright, we'll each take turns telling everyone about ourselves." Kakashi said, his eye scanning the young ninja in front of him.

"What kind of things?" Sakura asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

Kakashi shrugged slightly. "Ya know, hobbies, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. That sort of stuff." Kakashi said in his monotone voice.

"Why don't you go first?" Draxnew asked, still glaring at Kakashi.

Kakashi just shrugged again. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. It's none of your concern what my hobbies are. I like and dislike a lot of things. My dreams to the future…" Kakashi trailed off but the look in his eye seemed as if he was thinking if he even had dreams.

"All we got was his name…" Naruto muttered, giving Kakashi an annoyed look and crossing his arms childishly.

'This guy is a bit weird.' Draxnew thought to himself, and inwardly shrugged. 'But I can tell he has experience and will be a great sensei. Probably.'

"Okay, now your turn. Let's start with the girl." Kakashi said, pointing at Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. My hobbies include studying and training. I like…" Sakura glanced at Sasuke and blushed. "Er…My dreams…" She again glanced at Sasuke, who rolled his eyes but Sakura didn't notice. "I don't dislike many things, except maybe people who are late. And I REALLY hate Naruto!" Sakura yelled and glared at Naruto, who started sobbing waterfall tears.

"Sakura-chan, that's not fair…" Naruto complained as he hunched over.

'Man, she's such a bitch to Naruto.' Draxnew thought. 'I'd better try my best not to annoy her.' Draxnew slightly scooted away from Sakura, but she didn't notice. He then looked at Naruto.

"Uh…right." Kakashi said awkwardly as Naruto sat back up straight. "Next, the kid in the black coat." Kakashi said, turning his gaze to Draxnew.

"My name is Draxnew. My hobbies include…" Draxnew stopped as if he said too much. "Uh…I like…uh…" Draxnew again stopped. "I dislike…not much really…except being alone." Draxnew said awkwardly. "I don't really have a dream, except to live life as long as I can, I suppose." Draxnew said nervously while scratching the back of his head.

Everyone just stared at him. "Uh…okay then…" Kakashi said and coughed slightly. "Uh, the blonde kid, you go next." Kakashi said and nodded at Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! My hobbies are training and eating ramen! I like ramen and Iruka-sensei! I dislike how long ramen takes to cook! My dream…" Naruto started dramatically. "…Is to be the Hokage!" Naruto finished with a shine in his eyes.

'This kids really hyper, and kind of annoying.' Draxnew thought and inwardly rolled his eyes. He then looked at Sasuke.

"Alright, then." Kakashi said. He looked at Sasuke as well. "Your turn."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke said. "I don't have hobbies. I don't really like anything in particular, and I dislike many things. As for my dream…my goal in life, is to kill a certain man." He finished. Everyone was shocked, though they didn't show it.

'Good God, this guy's dangerous…' Draxnew made a mental note to not annoy Sasuke. He looked at Kakashi.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well, now that we've all been properly introduced, it's time to tell you about your test." Kakashi said with a smile.

Sakura started at Kakashi's sudden announcement, rising to her feet with a shocked expression. "A test?" she blurted bewilderingly, giving their apparent sensei a look of disbelief. "But we already took a test, the graduation exam!Why do we have to take another one as well?"

"That test was just to see if you were eligible to be a Genin." Kakashi replied in a bored tone. "I'm giving you the real test, if any of you fail, you'll all go back to the academy."

'All that hard work, and if we fail it's all for nothing?' Sakura thought, a look of fear appearing on her face.

"We'll meet at one of the training grounds." Kakashi points to the west at some trees. "Just keep going in that direction until you reach three logs. Arrive there at seven tomorrow morning. Also, skip breakfast or you'll puke." Kakashi said. "Any questions?" Kakashi paused, but the Genin remained silent. "Good. See ya tomorrow." Kakashi gave a small wave and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"This is bad, what if we fail?" Sakura asked, speaking to Sasuke.

Sasuke got up. "Well, I don't plan on failing, you three just better not mess up."

"Like I'd fail!" Naruto said with confidence and giving Sakura a reassuring grin.

"What do think, Draxnew?" Sakura turned to Draxnew, but he had already gotten up and was walking to where Kakashi instructed them to go. "Draxnew, where are you going? We don't need to be there until tomorrow morning."

Draxnew kept walking. "Yeah, I know." The other three Genin stared at him as he entered the forest and gave them a small wave.

The next morning, Sakura was walking towards the training grounds Kakashi told them to go to. She was rubbing her eyes sleepily for the umpteenth time as she entered the training grounds. The training area was simply a clearing with three logs with grooves on the center log, the grooves looked like ropes. There was also a small pond nearby. On that center log, Sakura saw Draxnew on top of it, sleeping whilst curled in a little ball. "What the?" Sakura muttered with curiosity. She approached the center log. "Draxnew?" Draxnew didn't stir, so Sakura reached up and timidly placed a hand on his shoulder. "Draxnew?" Sakurawhispered.

"GAH!" Draxnew was startled and fell off the log. "Ow…" He got up, rubbing his back. "Don't do that! Scared the crap out of me…" He muttered darkly as he dusted himself off.

"Sorry, but why were you sleeping here?" Sakura asked.

"Nowhere else to sleep." Draxnew said nonchalantly whilst he stretched.

"Don't you have a home, or family?" Sakura asked.

Draxnew opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by someone shouting. "Hey Sakura-chan! Hey Draxnew!" Sakura and Draxnew turned to see Naruto running towards them with Sasuke following behind, looking cool with is hands in his pockets.

"Hey Naruto. Hi Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called, she greeted Sasuke with much more enthusiasm.

'I wonder if staying in this world was a good choice…' Draxnew thought. 'Who knows what sort of dangerous things we must do as Genin. Though, I guess anything's better than staying with the Organization.' Draxnew thought and then smiled to himself.

A few seconds later, Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke. "Hello." He said with his normal monotone voice and a small wave.

"You're on time." Sasuke pointed out. "Couldn't come up with some lame excuse this time?" She asked.

"Well, I'm not ALWAYS late…" Kakashi said awkwardly. "Anyway, about your test…" Kakashi took out three boxes and put them on the log where Draxnew slept.

"What are those, old man?" Draxnew asked as he suppressed a yawn.

Kakashi turned to Draxnew. "Those are your lunches." Kakashi replied in his usual monotone voice. "Note that there are only three." Kakashi took out three bells. "Your test is to take these bells from me, whoever doesn't get a bell can't have any lunch." Kakashi said, he then tied the bells to his pants. Kakashi then placed an alarm clock on the lunches. "This is set to go off at noon." Kakashi explained.

"That's why you told us to skip breakfast…" Sakura complained as she hungrily rubbed her stomach.

"Exactly." Kakashi said. It seemed he was about to say something else, though it's hard to tell with the mask, when Draxnew summoned his Dark Sword and lunged at Kakashi.

"Give me the bells!" Draxnew shouted with deep blood lust as he swung his sword at Kakashi's neck.

Kakashi quickly caught Draxnew, pinned him to the ground with his foot on the boy's back and was pointing the Dark Sword at Draxnew's neck. 'That was so fast…' Naruto thought.

"Calm down there, kid. I didn't even say to start yet. Though that was good, all of you need to come at me like you want to kill me." Kakashi said. 'Odd. How did he summon that weapon? He didn't use scrolls or any hand signs…' Kakashi thought. The sword vanishes into black vapor. "Right. Go!" Kakashi got off of Draxnew and all of the Genin scattered into the bushes and trees. 'Let's see how they do.' Kakashi thought to himself. Suddenly, one of Draxnew's shadow orbs came at Kakashi from a bush, Kakashi dodges by simply sidestepping quickly, he then jumped to said bush, reached in and pulled Draxnew into the clearing.

"Ah, shit!" Draxnew exclaimed.

Kakashi picked Draxnew up by the hood on his coat. "Sloppy. Very sloppy…" Kakashi shook his head.

Naruto jumped out from behind a different tree at Kakashi. Kakashi threw Draxnew into Naruto. "Damn!" Naruto yelled. Kakashi punched Naruto to the side and kicked Draxnew in the face, sending the boy into the pond. While Kakashi was distracted, Sasuke jumped from his hiding place and attempted to kick Kakashi on the back of the head. At the same time, Naruto was charging at Kakashi from the front. Kakashi vanished which made Sasuke kick Naruto in the face. "What the hell are you doing, Sasuke?" Naruto yelled.

"It's not my fault, dobe!" Sasuke argued, giving Naruto a dark look.

Kakashi reappeared near the arguing boys. "Is that all you have? If so, all of you are going back to the Academy." Draxnew crawled out of the pond, panting. Kakashi glanced at him. "You're even worse than these two."

"You…bastard." Draxnew said. He held out his hand and a ball of fire appeared. He launched it at Kakashi who dodged easily.

"How'd he do that without hand seals?" Kakashi exclaimed. Draxnew kept flinging fireballs at Kakashi, which were dodged easily.

Some of the fireballs went to the bushes and trees, where Sakura was hiding so she jumps out. "Draxnew! Watch where you're aiming!" Sakura yelled.

"…Sorry." Draxnew muttered as he glanced at the ground.

"Let me take care of this, you're all useless." Sasuke said. He made some hand signs. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He yelled. He opened his mouth and a giant fireball launched at Kakashi, Naruto had to jump out of the way so he wouldn't get hit.

"Watch where you're aiming that thing!" Naruto scolded. "You dump bastard!"

"Don't get in the way, dobe!" Sasuke argued. He was about to say something else, but was interrupted.

"Guys! Stop fighting! We'll never get any of the bells this way!" Sakura said. "We can't keep

"She's right, we'll have to work together, but who won't get any lunch?" Sasuke asked.

There was a pause before Draxnew shrugged. "I'll do it, I've been longer without food." He said.

"No, if one of us goes without food, the rest of us should as well." Sakura said with determination.

"She's right, none of us should get any." Sasuke agreed. While the Genin were talking, Kakashi smiled, though nobody could see it under his mask. The smile quickly diminished as Draxnew summoned his sword, Sakura took out a kunai, and Sasuke got into a fighting stance.

"This may pose as a problem." Kakashi said with his usual bland voice. He got into a defending stance. 'Let's see how they do as a team.' Kakashi thought.

"Go! All at once!" Sasuke instructed. He made various hand signs. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke fired another giant fireball at Kakashi, who jumped in the air to avoid it.

Naruto formed a hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He shouted. About a dozen clones appeared in the air above Kakashi and attacked him. After a series of kicks and punches, Kakashi defeated all of the clones. As he was distracted, a kunai barely missed his ear. Kakashi looked down to see Sakura get out another kunai while Draxnew jumped in the air after Kakashi. Draxnew viciously swung at Kakashi horizontally and Kakashi got out a kunai of his own in the blink of an eye and blocked Draxnew's attack with ease. Sasuke jumped up behind Kakashi as Draxnew attempted to kick Kakashi. Kakashi blocked Draxnew's kick with his knee but Sasuke grabs onto Kakashi and Draxnew leaps away while Sasuke held Kakashi so Sasuke was above Kakashi and they both slammed face first into the ground with Kakashi absorbing most of the impact.

"Quick, take bells!" Draxnew yelled to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded.

"Right!" Sasuke quickly reached for the bells but Kakashi quickly knocked Sasuke off his back and jumped away from the Genin. "Damn!" Sasuke said, getting up.

"That was impressive." Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't believe you managed to hurt me." Kakashi droned while nonchalantly dusting himself off.

"Go! Again!" Sasukeordered his team while he gathered chakra.

"Right!" Draxnew yelled and charged at Kakashi who grabbed Draxnew and tossed him into Sasuke who both fall to the ground. "Not again!"

"Get off!" Sasuke said as he got up. "Quick, this way!" Sasuke said and led his teammates into some bushes.

"I wonder what they're up to." Kakashi said. He then shrugged, sat down, took out a book, and started reading.

Meanwhile, the Genin were far from Kakashi and were sitting in a circle. "What are we doing?" Naruto asked. "We should be kicking his ass right now."

"Well, obviously that isn't working, we just got lucky the first time and can't just keep charging at him with no plan." Sasuke argued.

"Sasuke-kun is right, but what should our plan be?" Sakura asked, looking at Sasuke.

The team talked and worked the plan out for a long time, Kakashi meanwhile finished his book. "Are they planning something or what?" He wondered. He quickly tensed up and turned around as a kunai sped towards him. Kakashi got out a kunai of his own and blocked it. As the kunai bounced off Kakashi's it was enveloped in a puff of smoke and changed into Naruto. "What?"

"Gotcha!" Naruto shouted and grabbed Kakashi. "Now, Sasuke!"

Sasuke jumped out from a nearby bush. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted and shot another giant ball of fire at Kakashi from his mouth.

Kakashi broke free from Naruto's grip and dodges the flame, but Naruto was hit by the flame and vanished in a puff of smoke. 'A clone.' Kakashi thought as he ran towards Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked at Kakashi. "Now!" He shouted.

Draxnew, Sakura, and the real Naruto jumped from the treetops at Kakashi, their kunai, or in Draxnew's case his sword, drawn. At the same time, Sasuke charged at Kakashi from the front. Without batting an eye, Kakashi grabbed Draxnew's sword and kicked him away and used his sword's hilt to hit Naruto in the throat and shoved Sakura away with his hand and finally smacked Sasuke in the face the blunt side of the sword. "Damn it, Draxnew! You messed us up!" Naruto scolded while rubbing his throat.

"Hey! You messed up too!" Draxnew snapped back, rubbing his stomach where Kakashi kicked him. "You were just as bad!"

Before anyone could do or say anything else, Kakashi straightened his back. "There's no use in continuing." He said as he walked toward the group. "It's obvious you won't be getting the bells, so I'll just end the test here." Kakashi scolded. He was about to continue when Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura vanished in a puff of smoke and Draxnew smirked. "What?"

Sasuke reappeared with a kunai on one side of Kakashi and Draxnew and Naruto appeared on the other. Sasuke threw the kunai, which had a wire tied to it's handle and Sasuke's hand, to Naruto who caught as he and Sasuke ran in a pattern so Kakashi and Draxnew were caught in a web of wire. "Now!" Sasuke yelled as Sakura appeared. Sakura proceeded to throw a kunai at Kakashi, forcing him to dodge.

"Oh crap!" Kakashi said as he realized what was going on, but it was too late as Draxnew had already grabbed all of the bells and teleported to the outside of the web of wire. "Damn!"

"Yes! We did it!" Sakura yelled with joy. "We got the bells!" She cheered, but to her dismay, Kakashi chuckled.

"Not quite." He said nonchalantly as he smiled.

"What?" Draxnew exclaimed as Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced by a log as the real Kakashi appeared on the right log and the bells in Draxnew's hand turned into small stones.. "Damn it!" He cursed. Just as Draxnew said that, the alarm went off.

'Great, now we failed.' Sasuke thought with a scowl. He proceeded to put his hands in his pocket.

Kakashi jumped to the ground. "Well, you failed to retrieve the bells, so none of you can eat. I should just send you back to the academy without a second thought." Kakashi said in a scolding voice. "But, I can tell you tried hard, and most importantly, you worked as a team." Kakashi said in a calmer tone of voice.

"So?" Draxnew asked.

"Well, that's the most important part of being a Shinobi, teamwork. Without it, you'll get nowhere and can't complete a mission. That's what the bells were for, you were right in trying to get them as a team. Though you're overall skill needs work, you have the teamwork down. For that reason, you pass." Kakashi said with a smile.

"What? Really?" Naruto asked. A big smile spreading across his face.

"Really." Kakashi replied with a smile.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled, literally jumping with joy. "We're officially Genin! Yeah!" Naruto cheered.

'Oh, thank God! I was getting worried there…' Draxnew thought with a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe it! When do we start with our missions?" Sakura asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon, meet me at the bridge just east of here." Kakashi said and with another smile, he vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving his exhausted new team to rest.

**Wow, really sorry about that delay! That was ridiculous. Well, it's summer so I'll have more time to work on the story and I promise the next chapter won't come so late! I thank PeinsDisciple for the idea with the wires. Just don't let my story make you judge his skill as a writer.**


	3. Not Quite What it Seems

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew and other OCs. Eh, I got nothing funny to say.

Chapter 3: Not Quite What it Seems

The following afternoon was a peaceful one. Not a cloud in the sky, people in Konoha enjoying the warm weather and cool breeze. Children were in the streets playing hide and seek and pretending to be Shinobi and other such things. The village bustled with people merrily going through the streets with smiles on their faces. It was very peaceful, except where Team Seven was. "GOD DAMN IT! Where is he?" Naruto roared, causing some nearby birds to fly away in fear. Team Seven was standing on the designated bridge, and was waiting there for three hours, and Kakashi still wasn't there.

"He's taking forever!" Draxnew complained, leaning against a railing on the bridge. "Is he really too lazy to show up on time?"

"I'm sure he got caught up with something…" Sakura said, though she didn't sound so sure of herself.

"Bullshit. He just does this to annoy us, I bet." Naruto muttered in an annoyed tone as he sat on one of the railings of the bridge.

As soon as Naruto finished complaining, Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke with his usual smile. He raised a hand to wave at his students. "Sorry I'm late, I-"

"Don't bother!" The Genin shouted in unison and taking Kakashi by surprise.

"Alright, sorry." Kakashi apologized, raising his hand in defense as his team calmed down.

"So, what's our mission?" Naruto asked. 'I hope it's something big like rescuing a princess! Or battling some powerful, evil Shinobi!' Naruto thought with a big, dumb grin spreading on his face.

"You'll see." Kakashi said as he turned around and walked down the street and his team followed.

'I wonder what we'll be doing…It should be easy, we are Genin after all…' Draxnew thought to himself as he followed his team. 'Will we be fighting someone? Or delivering something?' Draxnew sighed. 'Guess I'll find out soon enough…'

"This sucks!" Naruto shouted. It turned out, the team's first mission was to clean out a polluted pond. It was filled with grime, cans, cups, shards of glass, and other such things.

"Just shut up, dobe and keep cleaning." Sasuke snapped as he put an empty cup of instant ramen noodles in the basket on his back.

"I hope this isn't all we do…" Draxnew muttered. He looked around the polluted pond and sighed.

"It won't be, don't worry." Kakashi said as he sat by the pond's edge, watching his team while reading his book.

'Konoha seemed like such a clean village, but all this shit says otherwise.' Draxnew thought as he put a can in his trash basket. 'Why the hell are we doing this anyway? Shouldn't Shinobi be doing more serious things than this?'

Things didn't improve for Team Seven mission-wise. Over the next two weeks, they got one boring mission after the other. Whether it was fixing someone's roof, pulling weeds from someone's yard, or catching a lost cat. Team Seven was getting more annoyed by the day, especially Naruto and Draxnew. They were pushed too far in the Hokage's Residence where they got all their missions. The Hokage's Residence was a large, circular building with a large fire kanji on it. "Well then," the Third Hokage started. He and Team Seven were in his office, a large circular room at the top of the building. "for today you must repair Mr. Garasudo's fence, clean up garbage around town, and-"

"NO!" Naruto suddenly shouted, startling his team slightly. Everyday he had an outburst and Team Seven had gotten used to it. "I'm sick of all these boring missions!" Naruto rambled. "We just do chores that the people we do them for should be doing themselves!"

"Naruto! Be respectful!" Sakura shouted and punched Naruto on the back of the head.

"Ow! Sakura-chan…" Naruto whined as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hokage-sama, I have to agree with Naruto. We'll never show what we can do with all of these lame missions." Draxnew said politely. It seemed the Hokage was the only person Draxnew fully respected.

The Hokage sighed and thought for a moment. "Alright, fine. I'll give you a C-Rank Mission, is that alright Naruto?" The Hokage.

"Yeah! About time!" Naruto said with glee.

"Alright then. Enpitsu-san. You may come in." The Hokage called.

The door opened behind Team Seven and a young man, somewhere in his early twenties came in. He was about six feet seven inches with ink-black hair and had hazel eyes. He wore a kimono with a blue top and leaf-green pants. He was very slim for his age and looked weak. "Hello." He greeted kindly in a gentle voice.

"So, what are we doing exactly?" Sakura asked.

"Enpitsu-san is delivering a trading convoy to a village to the west and needs your protection in case of thieves." The Hokage explained.

"Sorry for the trouble, it's just the area I'm delivering to is notorious for bandits." Enpitsu said.

"It's really no trouble. Good luck everyone." The Hokage said with a smile.

An hour later, everyone was packed and outside the large gates of Konoha where Enpitsu was waiting with his convoy. "Is everyone ready to go?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes." Naruto said. "Let's go, I can't wait! I've never been outside of Konoha before!" Naruto said with a smile and started walking ahead. Everyone followed him to a path to the west with Enpitsu pulling his convoy of goods along. They walked down a dirt road with a forest on either side.

"So, what are you delivering, Enpitsu-san?" Sakura asked, walking next to him.

Enpitsu turned to Sakura and smiled. "Oh, just some basic things. Food, water, tradable goods. Those sort of things. It's from a poor village down south." Enpitsu said casually. Kakashi glanced over at Enpitsu but didn't say anything.

Draxnew also eyed Enpitsu. "How far is this village we're going to exactly?" Draxnew asked, walking on the other side of Enpitsu.

"Just a few days, a week at the most." Enpitsu said with a smile.

"Damn…" Draxnew muttered with a sigh as he slumped his shoulders.

"Why are you complaining? You and Naruto wanted a better mission and you got one." Kakashi said.

"I was just hoping it'd be more exciting than this." Draxnew explained.

After a few hours, nothing much happened except for Naruto complaining loudly about how boring the mission was. At about nine at night, Kakashi stopped everyone. "Alright, we'll stop here."

"Why? It's so early!" Naruto complained.

"We'll be getting up at the crack of dawn, eat quickly, then continue." Kakashi answered as he placed his backpack on the ground near a tree. Everyone did the same as they picked their places to sleep.

Everyone slept on the side of the path, except Draxnew who decided to sleep on a sturdy tree branch. "Why are you sleeping up there, Draxnew?" Sakura asked.

"I dunno…" Draxnew answered as he got comfortable. "I just feel more comfortable up here." He said as he closed his eyes.

'What a weird boy…' Sakura thought as she fell asleep. Before the sun even began to rise , Kakashi woke up and stretched.

"Alright, wake up everyone." He said. "Eat up and let's go."

The Genin grudgingly woke up complaining and Enpitsu stretched as everyone else got out their food. Draxnew hopped from his branch next to Naruto. "Here, Draxnew." Naruto said, while handing Draxnew a rice ball. Draxnew didn't have a backpack or anything, so Naruto packed double for him.

"Thanks…" Draxnew muttered with exhaustion. He had a terrible night filled with nightmares. He signs of bags under his eyes.

"Hey Draxnew, you okay?" Sakura asked, noticing how Draxnew looked. "You don't look so good." She said with concern.

"I'm fine, I just didn't sleep much." Draxnew said. As he finished his breakfast.

"Quit complaining." Sasuke said as he stood up along with everyone else as they started to continue their trip. This earned a glare from Draxnew, but Sasuke ignored it. Draxnew and Kakashi walked by Enpitsu while Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura walked a few feet behind them.

"So, Enpitsu, tell me more about this village you got the goods from." Kakashi said, glancing over at the young man.

"Well, the village where I got this money-" Enpitsu started.

"Wait, you said it was food, water, and other such things." Draxnew said, he was walking close by to Kakashi and Enpitsu.

A look of fear briefly flashed across Enpitsu's face. "Er…I apologize, that's what I meant. I'm just a bit tired is all…" Enpitsu said nervously.

Kakashi grabbed Draxnew's shoulder and stopped him as Enpitsu kept going on forward. "I think we need to keep an eye on this guy. Wouldn't you agree?" Kakashi whispered.

"Yeah." Draxnew whispered back as he looked at Enpitsu. "I think there's some money in that convoy, but why would he lie?" Draxnew asked.

"I don't know, let's just see how things go from here." Kakashi replied.

Sasuke noticed Draxnew and Kakashi whispering. "What are you two doing?" He asked.

"Draxnew was just annoying Enpitsu, and I was telling him to stop." Kakashi lied.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Draxnew muttered, pretending to be annoyed as he and Kakashi continued walking.

**Yeah, yeah. It's short. I know, but my editor, PeinsDisciple, wouldn't let me get to any real conflict yet and I don't want to just milk four more pages of walking and talking. Also, I'd like to thank said editor for the idea of this mission! Thanks, man!**


	4. The Corruption Begins

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew and other OCs. Those OCs are mine I tell you! All mine!

Chapter 4: The Corruption Begins

It was a hot, dry night. In the middle of the dark forest stood a large tower that was the color of blood. This is where it got the nickname "Blood Tower" and also the man who owned the building was ruthless and has had many people killed for various reasons. At the top of the tower, the owner, shrouded in the darkness sat in his chair. Three people knelt before him, their characteristics also hidden by shadows. "…Remember, you must kill the thief and bring me his head, and bring back my gold!" The owner said angrily as a thump was heard, presumably him pounding his fist.

The person on the left spoke, in a gruff voice. "Of course, Daimyo-sama. We will not fail you." The person vowed.

"Good, now go!" The Daimyo said as the three shapes vanished. He smiled to himself. "Soon enough, little thief, your head will be mine!" He chuckled slightly.

The three Shinobi moved through the forest quickly and silently. They approached a group of five, Team 7 and Enpitsu, and grabbed their backpacks without making a single noise. One of the Shinobi took out a vial of putrid, green liquid and poured a little on all of Team Seven's food. He then placed the food back in their original positions. He made a hand signal and all three Shinobi left.

The next morning was very foggy and humid as Kakashi woke up. "Alright everyone, eat your breakfast so we can go." He said as everyone woke up. Draxnew jumped off from the branch he was on as Naruto handed him a rice ball. He then took one out for himself.

"Thanks…" Draxnew muttered sleepily. He was the first to take a bite of food and then froze.

"What's up, Draxnew?" Naruto asked. Draxnew stopped moving completely.

"Quit trying to get attention." Sasuke muttered as he was about to take a bit out of his own rice ball.

"Everyone, don't eat!" Kakashi ordered as everyone put down their food. Draxnew dropped his rice ball, all color drained from his body as he collapsed. He started making odd gurgling sounds as if he was going to puke.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked.

"Oh no, I'm sure this is a bandit's doing…" Enpitsu muttered. He looked around with fear.

"Draxnew! Draxnew!" Naruto yelled, he flipped Draxnew over, his eyes slowly drooping as he lost consciousness.

'What's happening…?' Draxnew thought. He couldn't move, and his vision was getting blurrier. He could barely see or hear Naruto.

"Dra…w…wa….p….D…." Naruto's speech was getting fainter and fainter to Draxnew.

'Am I dying…?' Draxnew thought. His vision became black as his eyes closed. After a few seconds, a small pinprick of light came into Draxnew's view. 'What's going on…?' Draxnew thought. The light grew as Draxnew felt his eyes open, yet instead of seeing Naruto, he saw a girl. A girl he knew all too well. "X-Xion?" Draxnew muttered. He couldn't believe it, Xion was standing right above him. Her sapphire eyes, and her raven hair shining in the light. Her perfect face seemed to glow with beauty.

"It's about time you woke up, Draxy." Xion said with a smile. Her voice was beautiful and music to Draxnew's ears. It turned out, they were both on a beach.

"Draxnew! Draxnew!" Naruto yelled, shaking Draxnew. "Kakashi, why isn't he moving?" Naruto turned to Kakashi.

"What the hell is going on?" Sasuke demanded.

"It seemed someone poisoned our food." Kakashi muttered.

Not too far, yet close enough to watch Team Seven, the three Shinobi sat. There were two men and a woman. The man who poisoned the food was young, probably in his early twenties. He had weedy, blonde hair that reached his neck in the back, the bottom of his ears on the sides, and was almost in his eyes in the front. His left eye was green while his right was light blue and he had a manic look on his face. "Damn! I only got one of them!" He shouted. His voice was manic and obnoxious.

"Shut up, Namari!" Said the other man, he had the gruff voice. He had long brown hair that reached his shoulders and he seemed middle-aged, perhaps in his thirties. He had brown, cold eyes. He was very muscular. "They'll hear you."

"Namari, Kanazuchi, quit bickering!" Commanded the woman. She also had brown hair, but it was tied in a ponytail that reached passed her shoulders. She had sapphire eyes that shone brightly. She was beautiful, yet she had a cold voice. All three of them wore the same thing, black jumpsuits. They each had two pouches tied to their waists, like their jumpsuits, all of their pouches were black. No headbands were visible.

"Sorry Yumiya. Namari just gets on my nerves." Kanazuchi mumbled. "Alright, this will do for now. Go!" He commanded as the three Shinobi leapt towards Team Seven. "Doton: Jimen Shiwa no Jutsu!" Kanazuchi yelled.

"Bandits!" Naruto shouted. He grabbed Draxnew and hid him behind a tree as everyone else jumped away from Kanazuchi, except Enpitsu, who scurried behind a tree.

Kanazuchi punched the ground, causing much of the ground to collapse, the jutsu barely missed the convoy. "Easy, you almost destroyed the goods!" Namari yelled. He landed next to Kanazuchi, and Yumiya landed on the other side of Kanazuchi. "Give us that trading convoy!" Namari screeched.

"Bandits, huh? What did you do to Draxnew!" Kakashi asked.

Namari smiled. "Oh, he'll be fine. I just used a drug that will knock him out for a while."

"Why'd you tell them that?" Yumiya asked.

Before Namari could argue, Kakashi butted in. "Get out of here…now." Kakashi commanded.

The three bandits just paused before Yumiya spoke. "Kill them!" She yelled and took a kunai out and threw it at Enpitsu, but Kakashi deflected it with his own kunai.

Kakashi shouted back to Team Seven. "Sakura, you guard Enpitsu, Naruto, you guard Draxnew and the convoy, Sasuke, you come up and fight with me." Kakashi ordered. Everyone got into their assigned positions as Kakashi gathered chakra. He made a few hand signs "Katon: Boya Keta no Jutsu!" Kakashi shouted as a jet of flames came from his mouth towards the three enemy Shinobi. They all dodged as Namari went towards Enpitsu, Yumiya leapt at Kakashi, and Kanazuchi went for the convoy.

Draxnew sat up and looked around. It was a bright and sunny day and it was just Xion and himself alone on a beach. The beach seemed to stretch on forever going away from the crystal clear ocean. "Is it really you, Xion?" Draxnew asked with bewilderment.

Xion smiled again. "Of course it is Draxy. Who else would it be?" She asked. She took out two sea-salt ice creams from seemingly nowhere, but Draxnew didn't care. "Want an ice cream?" She asked.

"Sure." Draxnew said with a smile as he took an ice cream. He stood up and started walking down the beach with the love of his life.

"Xion…" Draxnew muttered in his unconscious state, Naruto ignored this and jumped at Kanazuchi and attempted to hit him, but the burly ninja dodged.

"Move out of the way, or I'll kill ya!" Kanazuchi yelled as he took out a kunai.

Naruto was about to retaliate, when he saw Namari going towards Sakura. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled. He ignored Kanazuchi and went for Namari, letting Kanazuchi have a clear path to the convoy. Naruto punched Namari in the face, sending him into a tree.

"What are you doing, dobe?" Sasuke yelled at Naruto as he intercepted Kanazuchi. "You were supposed to guard the convoy!" Sasuke attempted to kick Kanazuchi but was blocked.

Naruto wasn't paying attention to Sasuke. "Are you okay guys?" Naruto asked Sakura and Enpitsu.

"Of course, I can take care of myself." Sakura said. She and Naruto both charged at Namari and Sakura threw a kunai as Naruto summoned some clones.

Kakashi, meanwhile, was beating Yumiya with ease. Her attacks were predictable and he was much faster than her. "Raiton: Denkou Harou no Jutsu!" Yumiya shouted as lighting enveloped around her hand and she tried to hit Kakashi, but Kakashi managed to dodge easily and punched Yumiya hard in the face, sending her to the ground. "Damn!" She shouted.

Namari grinned manically and made some hand signs. "Suiton: Tansui Taiga no Jutsu!" Namari opened his mouth and a small, but powerful, jet of water shot out, destroying a clone and going towards Enpitsu's head.

Draxnew and Xion had finished their ice-cream and were sitting together, watching the ocean. "I missed you so much…" Draxnew said. Xion didn't reply, she just leaned up against Draxnew. "What the…?" Draxnew muttered. The ocean had vanished, replaced with a vast void of nothingness. "What's going on?" Draxnew exclaimed. He turned to Xion, but she vanished as well, and so did the beach. Draxnew fell.

"This is too easy." Kanazuchi said as he punched Sasuke in the gut, knocking the wind out of the boy.

Draxnew slowly opened his eyes. "What happened…?" He muttered. Everything was spinning, but slowly started to stop. Draxnew saw the three enemy ninja. Kakashi was doing a fine job taking care of Yumiya, while Sasuke was having trouble. "What's going on?" Draxnew said, standing up.

"Bandits, you idiot! Help us!" Sasuke ordered as he dodged Kanazuchi's next punch. Draxnew summoned his Dark Sword and charged at Kanazuchi.

Meanwhile, Enpitsu barely dodged the attack sent at him and it cut a perfect circle-shaped hole in the tree behind him. "That was too close…" He muttered to himself. Naruto and Sakura were busy trying to keep Namari at bay using shadow clones and kunais. Sakura managed to hit Namari in his left arm, creating a deep cut and rendering it useless. This, however, didn't keep the crazed Shinobi from grinning like a maniac.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" Namari screeched as a wave of water burst from his mouth and hit Naruto, sending him into a tree. Naruto quickly recovered and summoned a shadow clone which threw him at Namari and he kicked the maniac in the gut. "You little brat!" Namari shouted as he kicked Naruto in the gut. This gave Sakura a chance to hit Namari's right shoulder with a kunai. "Agh! God dammed brat!" Namari shouted.

Draxnew and Sasuke, meanwhile, weren't having as much luck with Kanazuchi. They managed to get a few hits in, but the muscle bound Shinobi was barely affected by the attacks. "This isn't working." Sasuke said as he and Draxnew jumped back from their enemy. Sasuke muttered so only Draxnew could hear. "Send him high in the air. I've got a plan." Sasuke ordered.

"Got it." Draxnew confirmed. He charged at Kanazuchi with his Dark Sword at the ready. Kanazuchi tried to punch Draxnew, but Draxnew ducked and nailed Kanazuchi in the gut and then kicked him hard in the face. He swiped at Kanazuchi with his Dark Sword, but Kanazuchi knocked it out of his hand. "Sasuke! Now!" Draxnew ducked, dodging another punch. He mustered all of his strength into one mighty kick to Kanazuchi's chin. Sending the Shinobi at least twenty feet in the air.

"Right!" Sasuke confirmed as he made some hand signs. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke inhaled and released a fireball which hit Kanazuchi as he reached maximum height. "Got him!"

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Kanazuchi wailed as he hit the ground whilst burning to a crisp. He tried rolling on the ground, but Draxnew took this opportunity to stab the flaming Shinobi in the face with his Dark Sword. Kanazuchi gurgled for a moment, then ceased to move.

Kakashi, meanwhile, was still beating Yumiya up badly. "This ends now!" He shouted as he kicked her hard in the throat, making her collapse.

Namari pause to look at Yumiya being defeated and Kanazuchi's burning corpse. "Oh God…" He muttered. His manic grin vanishing as he leapt through the trees as fast as he could go.

Before anyone could move, Draxnew gave chase. "Draxnew!" Naruto shouted. He started to run too, but Kakashi stopped him.

"Naruto, don't. That man couldn't use either of his arms, Draxnew should be able to handle him with ease." Kakashi said. He then knelt down and grabbed Yumiya by the front of her jumpsuit and pulled her so their faces were an inch about. "Tell men, did somebody send you?" Kakashi asked with cold voice.

Yumiya merely laughed in Kakashi's face. "I won't tell you anything." She chocked. She could hardly speak after getting kicked in the neck. She quickly batted Kakashi's hand away and opened the front of her jumpsuit, revealing at least a dozen burning tags. "Goodbye…" She muttered.

"Explosive tags!" Kakashi yelled as everyone retreated behind the trees as the tags exploded, reducing Yumiya to nothing and making a small crater in the road. Luckily Yumiya was far enough from the convoy so the explosion didn't damage it. "Is everyone alright?" Kakashi asked as he stepped from behind the tree. Everyone nodded.

After a few seconds. Draxnew jumped from the trees. "What the hell was that?" He asked.

"That woman had a bunch of explosion tags strapped to herself." Kakashi explained. "Did you catch that other guy?" He asked.

Draxnew didn't look Kakashi in his one visible eye. "He was too fast…I couldn't catch up to him." Draxnew lied. He put his hands in his pockets, feeling the half empty vial of drugs. "I'm sorry…"

"It's alright. As long as everyone's safe, that's all that matters." Kakashi said.

Enpitsu bowed slightly to everyone. "Thank you all so much. That was amazing…" He said. He was a little bit shaken by the whole thing.

"Right then. We should keep going then." Kakashi said as he started walking. Everybody got their backpacks, and Enpitsu got his convoy, and followed him. "We'll need to stop by to eat somewhere since our food was drugged like that." Kakashi said.

Meanwhile, Namari was making his way back to Blood Tower, he now had a blackened left eye. "Damn it…How could this happen?" He muttered to himself. He scaled the tower and entered the top floor through a window. "D-Daimyo-sama…" Namari muttered.

"What the hell happened?" The Daimyo demanded. His half of the room wasn't well lit, so his features remained hidden.

"We failed. Kanazuchi was killed and Yumiya was captured." Namari said. "They were too strong…"

"I thought so. I wondered why you took so long." The Daimyo said. "Well, I'll just have to send someone stronger. I already hired him. Enter, Ohame." The Daimyo ordered. A door behind Namari opened and he turned around to see a beast of a man. He stood six and a half feet and had more muscle than Kanazuchi. He had a dark blue Mohawk and had dark green eyes which were cold and menacing. He was grinning manically showing his hideous jagged teeth. He wore a black short sleeved shirt with dark green pants. On his back, he had attached a large, steel sword that was about five feet in length and was covered in small scratches and burn marks. Around his neck hung a black headband with a symbol that seemed to be an hourglass on it. "Ohame, thank you for coming." The Daimyo said. He glanced down at Namari. "Kill him." He ordered.

"What? No! Daimyo-sama, please!" Namari begged. He tried to run, but Ohame grabbed onto Namari's head with one of his massive hands and started to squeeze. "HAVE MERCY!" Namari begged. His words fell on deaf ears as Ohame closed his fist and sent bits of Namari's head all around.

"This will cost you extra." Ohame said. He wiped some of Namari's head off on his pants.

"Of course, but you won't get anything until you get my gold back. Do you understand?" The Daimyo said.

"Right. I know. I'll be back soon." He said as he leapt out the window.

The Daimyo paused for a moment. "…Someone come in here and clean up this mess!" He yelled.

Meanwhile, Team Seven came across a dango shop on the side of the road and stopped for a bite to eat. Kakashi paid for it all. "Say Draxnew," Naruto said, taking a bite of dango. "what happened to you? You were muttering somebody's name while you were knocked out." Naruto said.

Draxnew paused for a moment, gazed off into the distance. "It was nothing…" He muttered. He took a small bite from his dango.

"But you muttered a name." Naruto pressed on. "I think it was…Xion?" Naruto said after a moment of thinking. "That's it! It was Xion."

Draxnew gave Naruto a cold stare. "I told you, it was nothing!" Draxnew said forcefully. He reached in his pocket and felt the vial again. 'I'll see you soon Xion…' He thought to himself.

Naruto was about to say something, but Sakura stopped him. "He obviously doesn't want to talk about it!" Sakura scolded.

"You know, we really know nothing about you, Draxnew. It's kind of suspicious." Sasuke said as he finished his meal.

Kakashi clapped loudly once to get everyone's attention. "Alright, let's head off." Kakashi said brightly. Everyone got up and exited the dango shop and continued on their way. Nothing eventful happened for about an hour. Kakashi suddenly tensed up. "We're being followed…" He muttered.

Before anyone could react, there was a large explosion behind them. They all spun around to see a large man wielding a sword emerge from the smoke. "Hello, kiddies!" He yelled. "It's time to play!" He stopped and looked at Kakashi for a moment. "You seem familiar…" He muttered.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Sasuke asked. He, along with everyone besides Enpitsu, took a defensive stance.

"Me? I'm Ohame!" The man said, he looked around at everyone. "This is it? I was expecting a challenge…" He said in a disappointed voice.

"What? I can kick your ass!" Naruto yelled. He was about to leap at the man, but Kakashi stopped him.

"Naruto! This man is very dangerous!" Kakashi warned. "He's a powerful bounty hunter." He locked eyes with the man. "I'll need to use my full strength against him…" Kakashi reached for his headband and lifted it up, revealing his left eye. It was closed and had a vertical gash running through it. He opened the eye revealing to have a red pupil with three black tomoes. "Sharingan!" Kakashi said.

"The Sharingan!" Sasuke blurted out. He was extremely surprised at this. "But…how?"

Ohame thought for a second. "Oh, I know you know! You're Sharingan Kakashi! This may be fun after all…" Ohame said.

**I'm sorry for the late update. Again. Well, I'd like to thank PeinsDisciple once again. I forgot to mention this last chapter, but this whole storyline was all his idea. Though I made the OCs myself. Though he helped slightly with Ohame. Just a heads up, I'm going to the beach tomorrow and won't be back for a whole week. I'll have no internet connection, so I can't work on the story. Well, that's it! Thanks for reading!**


	5. Lighting Up the Darkness

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew and other OCs. That is all, go back to eating your sandwich. Just a head's up, this chapter has some graphic gory material, you've been warned.

Chapter 5: Lighting Up the Darkness

Kakashi stared down his opponent who just stood there with a large, dumb grin. "Everyone, stand back. I'll take care of this guy."

Ohame did some stretching. "You seem a bit confident, Sharingan Kakashi." Ohame's smile widened. "I'm gonna blow you to smithereens!" He yelled as he removed his sword from his back and charged at Kakashi.

"Everyone, stay back and guard Enpitsu!" Kakashi yelled as he charged at Ohame. The four Genin grouped around Enpitsu. Kakashi threw a kunai at Ohame, who blocked with his giant sword, temporarily hiding his view of Kakashi, when he lowered the sword, Kakashi was gone.

"What the…?" Ohame muttered. "Where did he-" Ohame started as he looked around in confusion.

Before he could finish, Kakashi burst out of the ground holding a kunai, going straight for Ohame's neck. Unfortunately, Ohame managed to dodge, so the kunai hit his chin, giving him a nasty scratch. "Damn!" Kakashi cursed as he stepped back from the newly made hole in the ground. "He's fast for a big lug…"

"Very clever Sharingan Kakashi!" Ohame yelled. "I'm going to kill you and…"

As Ohame ranted on about killing Kakashi, Draxnew turned to Sasuke. "Hey Sasuke, what's this "Sharingan" thing?" Draxnew asked.

Sasuke sighed irritably. "It's a special eye-jutsu that only members of the Uchiha can possess. It allows the user to copy movements and jutsu and can even allow the user to anticipate what their opponent will do next." Sasuke explained. 'But how the hell does Kakashi have it?'

Ohame finished his speech as Kakashi stood there glaring daggers at him. "…and blow your body to bits!" Ohame said with a smirk.

Kakashi made some hand signs. "You talk too much." He said as he charged at Ohame again, Ohame swung his sword at Kakashi, who jumped back.

"Alright, it's my turn Sharingan Kakashi!" Ohame yelled as he charged at Kakashi and slammed his sword at the ground in front of Kakashi who hopped backwards as an explosion went off where Ohame struck his sword.

"What the hell?" Kakashi exclaimed. 'How did he do that?' Kakashi jumped to the other side of Ohame, making the large man turn to him and away from the Genin and Enpitsu. 'It takes a lot of skill to do a technique like that. I'll have to use long-range jutsu.' Kakashi jumped up into the air so he was directly above Ohame. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Kakashi yelled as he released a ball of fire at Ohame, who dodged, but once Kakashi landed he immediately sprinted at Ohame and kicked him in the face several times and jumped back. Ohame was barely fazed. 'This guy can take a lot of damage. Maybe…' Kakashi turned to his team. "Sasuke, come help!" Kakashi ordered as Sasuke jumped next to him.

"What about me? I can help! I can kick this guy's ass easily!" Naruto gloated.

"Just stay there with Draxnew and Sakura!" Kakashi ordered. "Alright, Sasuke, you need to keep your distance with his guy, he seems to be able to create explosions by using Katon and Futon at the same time at the tip of his blade." Kakashi explained.

"Right, so what's the plan?" Sasuke whispered so only Kakashi could hear.

Kakashi thought for a moment before answering. "I'll distract him while you either destroy or get that sword away from him." Kakashi whispered. "Go!" Kakashi took out and threw several kunai at Ohame, who blocked with his sword, while Sasuke ran to the other side of Ohame while he wasn't looking and barraged the large man with punches and kicks. Sasuke then jumped back.

Ohame turned to Sasuke and smirked. With a mighty heave he chucked the sword at the Uchiha. 'What the?' Sasuke thought. The sword landed right in front of the boy. 'What's he doing?'

Ohame chuckled as Kakashi's eyes widened. "Sasuke! Get away from that sword!" Sasuke jumped up onto the branch of a tree behind him as an explosion emitted from the tip of the sword, sending it high in the air and Ohame jumped up and grabbed it, then dive-bombed toward Kakashi. 'I have to do this quickly!' Kakashi gathered all of his chakra to his right hand and a ball of blue lightning appeared on it. All of the Genin stared at it in awe. "Raikiri!" Kakashi shouted as he jumped up and hit Ohame's sword with the attack. However, the sword merely received a small dent with cracks surrounding it. Kakashi kicked Ohame away. "What is that sword made of! I suppose it'd have to be strong to handle all those explosions…Though I did notice he was a bit slower after his explosion, using chakra like that may make him slower for a small while." Kakashi looked towards Sasuke who jumped from the branch and ran at Ohame.

"You fool!" Ohame turned and saw Sasuke and started swinging nonstop at the young Genin, who dodged the swings.

"Sasuke! Ohame can't use his explosions consecutively!" Kakashi yelled to Sasuke.

'But when will an explosion occur?' Sasuke continued to dodge the barrage of swings. 'Concentrate…concentrate…' Sasuke thought to himself. An image of a tall man shrouded in shadow with Sharingan eyes appeared in his head. 'Foolish bother…you are weak…' The man said. 'I have to…in order to kill him…!' Sasuke opened his eyes and his had changed, he awakened the Sharingan. It wasn't complete, his left eye had one tomoe while the right had two. "Sharingan!" Sasuke jumped back as Ohame's sword hit the ground and caused an explosion.

Ohame turned to look at Sasuke and noticed the Sharingan. "An Uchiha, eh? This could be fun!" Ohame threw his sword at Sasuke again. Sasuke leapt at the sword and used it as a boost to kick off of towards Ohame. Sasuke took out a kunai and threw it at Ohame, who caught the kunai and threw it right back. Sasuke vanished. "What the…?" Ohame looked around and then down to see Sasuke crouching. 'He's fast!' Sasuke kicked Ohame hard in the gut, sending him stumbling backwards. Kakashi took this chance to throw several kunai, which hit Ohame in the back. "Ow!" Ohame regained his balance. "That hurt…" He reached to his back and yanked all the kunai out.

"He just won't go down!" Sasuke said with a scowl. He leapt over to Kakashi. "What do we do?" Sasuke asked, glancing at his Sensei.

"Well, we have him away from his sword, so we just have to keep it that way and keep attacking until he falls." Kakashi answered. He noticed Ohame turning towards his sword. "Attack now!" Kakashi ordered as he and Sasuke leapt at Ohame.

Ohame merely smirked and made hand signs. "Futon: Fuuryoku Nami no Jutsu!" Ohame shouted. He swept his hand vertically and a large wave of wind appeared, blowing Kakashi and Sasuke backwards into trees. "Hehe, too easy." Ohame ran over and retrieved his sword.

Kakashi and Sasuke got up and glared at their opponent. "Kakashi-sensei! Let us help, come on!" Naruto called.

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Don't you get it, dobe? The three of you are too weak to help and you'd just get in the way!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto said nothing, he just glared. As did Draxnew, Sakura just looked shocked.

"Sasuke, that's enough! We have to focus on beating this guy." Kakashi ordered. Kakashi and Sasuke charged at Ohame again. Ohame simply swung his sword at the ground, causing an explosion and forcing Kakashi and Sasuke to jump away. "Follow me, Sasuke." Kakashi jumped into the forest, as did Sasuke.

"They ran, huh? Looks like I get to-" Ohame started, he then tensed up and turned to see Kakashi and Sasuke jumping at him. "Fools!" Ohame dropped his sword and caught the two Shinobi by the throats and started to squeeze.

"Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled. She was then surprised to see Kakashi and Sasuke turn into logs. "What…?"

"What the hell?" Ohame exclaimed. He saw the logs were covered in explosive tags, already burning. "Oh fu-" He jumped back as the tags went off, sending Ohame's sword flying, and Ohame backwards into a tree. The real Kakashi took this chance to jump from the trees and went after the sword, placed several explosive tags on it and threw it as far as he could, he then activated the tags and several seconds later, the sword was destroyed.

Kakashi landed in front of Ohame and the real Sasuke came out from the trees next to Kakashi. "Is he…?" Sasuke started to ask. He was interrupted from a loud groan from Ohame as he stood up and rubbed his shoulder. "You've got to be kidding me!" Sasuke yelled. He charged at Ohame. Ohame quickly grabbed Sasuke's ankle and threw him at Kakashi, who caught the boy. This gave Ohame a chance to attack. Kakashi and Sasuke quickly recovered and jumped over Ohame and attempted to attack from behind. Ohame spun and around and kicked Sasuke in the gut. "Gah…" Was all Sasuke could muster as he collapsed. Ohame threw a kunai at Sasuke's face, Sasuke tried to dodge but the kunai still hit him creating a large diagonal gash across Sasuke's face, going from his chin to his forehead. Kakashi dodged Ohame's punch and kicked Ohame in the face, making the giant man stumble backwards.

Kakashi glanced at Sasuke as he wearily got up. 'I've got to end this now!' Kakashi thought to himself as he withdrew a kunai. Much to his team's surprise, he cut his own hand, dashed forward, placed his bloody hand on Ohame and speared his blood on him, then jumped back. Kakashi proceeded to take out a scroll and opened and wiped more of his blood on it. He made some hand seals and slammed his scroll on the ground. After a few moments, nothing happened.

Ohame blinked twice. "What was that about?" He asked. He was about to say something else when eight dogs burst out of the ground and all bit him in various places, planting him to the spot. The dogs all had Konoha Headbands and blue vests. There was a small brown pug, a small tan dog with a kanji on his forehead, a amber dog with a tuff of black hair, a tan dog with glasses, a grey dog with bandages, a white dog, a tan dog with floppy ears, and an enormous black bulldog. "What the fuck!" Ohame exclaimed.

"These are my Ninken." Kakashi replied as he proceeded to walk towards Ohame. "I can summon them under ground, and by tagging you with my blood, they can track and immobilize you. Now tell me, who sent you?" Kakashi asked. Enpitsu squirmed uncomfortably. Kakashi held a kunai to Ohame's neck. "If you don't talk, I'll slit your throat."

Ohame smiled stupidly. "Alright, alright. I was sent by a nearby Daimyo who resides in Blood Tower. He sent three weaklings after you before, then myself." Ohame explained. He glanced over at Enpitsu, who cringed under Ohame's gaze. "And this scrawny guy is a thief. He stole tax money that the Daimyo got from a poor village and was going to keep it all for himself once he got back to his home village." Ohame said, his grin widening.

"Why would you go through so much trouble just to take care of Enpitsu?" Kakashi asked.

Ohame smirked. "I just wanted to blow him to bits. What's the point in being alive if you don't do the things that make you feel good?"

Draxnew thought about these words as he put a hand in his pocket and feeling the object within. 'Maybe he's right…'

"I see…" Kakashi muttered to himself. He put the kunai away and focused energy into his hand again and made another Raikiri. "Ninken! That's enough!" Kakashi said as the dogs jumped off Ohame.

"No! I-" Ohame started to say but Kakashi stabbed him through the chest. "…Damn…" Ohame grinned his manic grin one last time, and ceased to move. Kakashi retracted his hand and Ohame's corpse collapsed. Kakashi lowered his headband so his Sharingan was once again covered and turned to Sasuke.

"Are you okay, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, only getting a nod in reply as Sasuke pretended not to be in pain. Sakura got out some bandages from her bag and started wrapping them around Sasuke's wound. Kakashi directed his attention to Enpitsu, who cringed again. Enpitsu turned to run. "Draxnew, get him!"

Draxnew grabbed Enpitsu's arm and shoved him towards Kakashi. "L-Let me explain, that Daimyo, he isn't even a real Daimyo. He's a fraud!" Enpitsu said shakily.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, giving Enpitsu a soul-piercing glare.

"The fake Daimyo's name is Donyoku, a famous crook who pretends to be a Daimyo where he's really just a man who scares everyone into thinking he's a Daimyo with merciless bounty hunters. To hide his identity, most people only know him as 'Daimyo-sama'. He was picking on a particular poor village and taking ridiculously high taxes. I managed to knock out the tax collector and took the money for myself." Enpitsu explained.

Kakashi nodded. "I see. I've heard of this man. How do I know you're not lying though?" Kakashi demanded.

"G-Go to Blood Tower and ask him yourself." Enpitsu suggested. "Even if it turns out I was lying, at least you have Donyoku to arrest."

"I suppose we could, it wouldn't take very long. If Donyouku is there and it turns out your story is true, he'll be arrested, as will you for theft." Kakashi said coldly. Enpitsu swallowed nervously and nodded. "Do you know where Blood Tower is?" Kakashi asked. Enpitsu nodded. "Alright, Pakkun." Kakashi said, referring to the pug. "You and the other dogs stay here and guard the convoy."

The pug nodded. "Got it, boss." Pakkun said. He and the other Ninken formed a circle around the convoy and Enpitsu.

"…Did that dog just talk?" Draxnew asked with a surprised look.

"Yes, these are Ninken. They're dogs that are trained by Shinobi." Kakashi explained. He turned to Enpitsu. "Alright, Enpitsu will point us in the right direction, then we will attack Blood Tower. We don't want any trouble, so we have to sneak to the top floor where the 'Daimyo' resides." Kakashi explained. "Pakkun, Enpitsu will stay here. If he tries to flee, you know what to do." Kakashi said. Pakkun nodded.

Enpitsu looked at the sun as it floated in the middle of the sky. "Blood Tower is directly south of here." Enpitsu said as he eyed all the Ninken nervously.

"Got it." Kakashi confirmed as he and the rest of Team Seven headed south. "We don't want this guy to notice us, so remain silent and scale the wall to the top window into his chamber. Besides, Sasuke's injured and we don't want to risk anything." Kakashi instructed. The Genin nodded in response, though Sasuke looked disgruntled.

For a few minutes, nobody said anything, then Sasuke spoke up. "Kakashi-sensei? How did you get the Sharingan?" He asked.

Kakashi tensed up a little, he stopped and so did his team. "Maybe one day I'll tell you the story, but we've arrived." Kakashi pointed through a small clearing with Blood Tower erecting from the ground. "Let's go!" Team Seven leapt at the wall and landed on a small ledge protruding from the wall. "Now!" Kakashi and the Genin leapt through the highest window into Donyoku's chamber.

"What the hell?" Donyoku yelled. It was light in the room, so Donyoku's featured were no longer hidden. He wore a fancy royal-purple robe and was quite old, probably in his seventies. He had short gray hair with a small mustache and fearful brown eyes. "Who are you people!" Donyoku demanded.

"We're from Konoha, and you're under arrest." Kakashi said coldly.

Donyoku quickly put on a kind face. "Uh, wh-what are you talking about? I'm just a humble old Daimyo-"

"Cut the shit. We know you're Donyoku, a fake Daimyo." Kakashi said, cutting the old man off. "After all the crimes you committed, you'll be put to death." Kakashi said.

"You won't be doing anything of the sort! Gua-" Donyoku started to shout. He was cut off by Draxnew placing his Dark Sword against Donyoku's neck. "A-Alright…fine…" Donyoku said while slouching his shoulders.

"Before we go, does a man named Enpitsu ring a bell?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes! That bastard stole my gold!" Donyoku shouted. "And I-" Kakashi gave Donyoku a cold look which shut the old man up.

"Good. Draxnew, keep that sword against his neck so his guards-" Kakashi started as he and the other three members of Team Seven turned towards the door. He was interrupted by a grunt, a thump, and a squirting sound. Everyone turned to see Draxnew had chopped the fake Daimyo's head off and blood squirted from the neck. Draxnew had a crazed, almost animal-like look in his eyes. "DRAXNEW! What the hell did you just do?"

"Oh my God!" Naruto exclaimed at the gory scene. Sakura just looked away.

Draxnew's manic look vanished. "W-Well, he was going to have a death sentence anyway…what's the difference if I kill him?" Draxnew asked innocently. He either didn't notice or care his front was covered in blood.

Kakashi grabbed Draxnew by the shoulders roughly so they were face to face. "That does not excuse you from disobeying a direct order!" Kakashi scolded. "I will talk to the Hokage when we get back, and if you do this again, the consequences will be dire." Kakashi warned. Draxnew nodded.

"Sir? Are you alright? I heard shouting." A voice called as footsteps approached the room.

"Let's go! Now!" Kakashi commanded as he leapt out the window, followed by his teammates. They all headed back to the convoy and arrived there after about ten minutes of traveling. On their way, everyone kept glancing at Draxnew, who didn't show any signs of caring about chopping a weak old man's head off. He gazed off into space the whole time. "Ninken, we're back. Did this guy give you any trouble?" Kakashi asked.

"Nah, he kept to himself, boss." Pakkun replied. "Are we done here?"

"Yes." Kakashi answered as the ninja dogs vanished, he turned to Enpitsu who looked terrified. "We'll be completing our trip to your village, then a team of ninja will transport the gold back to the poor town and you shall be arrested. Understood?" Kakashi asked Enpitsu.

"R-Right. W-We're only a f-few hours away from the v-village." Enpitsu replied. He noted the blood on Draxnew. "What happened?"

"Draxnew cut Donyoku's head off." Kakashi answered. Enpitsu looked shocked, but said nothing. The group traveled in silence the rest of the way. They reached the gates of a small village with many, medium sized white buildings with many people bustling all around. There were two guards at the gate, two young men. One with brown hair, one with black hair. They both had green eyes.

"Ah, welcome back, Enpitsu!" The black-haired man called. "Where were you?"

Kakashi spoke before Enpitsu had a chance. "Whatever Enpitsu told you was a lie. He stole money from a poor village." Kakashi said.

"What? We'll have the money returned as soon as possible. As for you, Enpitsu, you're under arrest!" The brown-haired man yelled. Enpitsu sighed as he was taken away by the brown-haired man while the black-haired man took the convoy into the city.

"Well, our work here is done. Let's go home. If we hurry we can make it before tomorrow." Kakashi said as he started to leap through the trees, Team Seven followed him. After hours of silent traveling, they made it back to Konoha. "Alright, I'll go tell the Hokage what happened, you can all go relax. Also, Sasuke, go get that gash looked at." Kakashi said, he gave Draxnew a warning look before he left.

"Man, that was an intense mission…" Naruto murmured. "Hey Drax…" Naruto turned and saw Draxnew had vanished. "Where'd he go?"

"I didn't see him leave." Sakura said. Sasuke just shrugged.

Meanwhile in a clearing in a nearby forest, Draxnew appeared and ran to the middle of the clearing. In his haste, he tripped and an object from his pocket rolled under a thorny bush. Draxnew franticly crawled over to the bush, and without a second thought, reached in the bush, ignoring the pain and darkness seeping from his wounds. He found what he was looking for and yanked the object from the bush, it was a vial covered in Draxnew's darkness. Draxnew quickly removed the top of the vial with an almost scared expression. He slowly smiled to himself. "Maybe…again?"

Meanwhile, in a large white marble castle in a different world entirely, it floated, overlooking a large black city. There was a meeting going on in a large circular room with fourteen people wearing clothes exactly like Draxnew's except everyone had their hoods up. Each person sat in a chair embedded in the wall, each chair had different heights. There were twelve figures which were male, and two females, one female slouched in a depressed state. "Alright, it's been a weeks since Draxnew went AWOL and we've had no success pinpointing his location." The man in the highest man said, his voice was very calm. "Instead of just Zexion, every one of you will start looking for him." The man commanded. He turned to the slouching girl. And if you fine him and he doesn't comply…kill him." The man added. "Is that understood, Xion?"

The girl felt the man's orange eyes on her. She looked up at him. "Yes, Superior, I understand." She replied in a worried voice.

**That wasn't quite as long a wait, now was it? I'd like to once again thank PeinsDisciple for being my editor and for the idea for using the Ninken, and Draxnew killing the fake Daimyo. Also, I'd like to thank him for helping me with the paragraph with Draxnew and his precious vial and the idea of giving Sasuke a scar. I'll try not to make you wait as long for the next chapter.**


	6. The Chunin Exams

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew and other OCs.

Chapter 6: The Chunin Exams

It was a warm, crisp morning in Konoha. Though that was the case, dark clouds loomed overhead, a few drops started to fall. One raindrop fell into a clearing in one of Konoha's forests and landed on a boy's head, Draxnew's. It had been two weeks since Team Seven's mission with Enpitsu and the false Daimyo. "Ugh…" Draxnew groaned as he woke up. It had also been two weeks since Draxnew drained his entire vial of drugs at once. He got to see Xion, but he was all out of drugs. "How could I be so stupid…?" Draxnew muttered to himself, every morning he'd mutter this to himself. Draxnew got up and headed towards Konoha. For some reason, there were no missions today, as Kakashi mentioned the day before. Draxnew didn't mind the slight drizzle, and neither did most of the Konoha citizens, most used umbrellas while some just ignored the rain. Draxnew was walking by an alleyway when he heard a voice call to him.

"Hey, buddy. With the black coat." The voice sounded dark and untrustworthy, but Draxnew turned to see a man in the alley. The man had brown rags for clothes with black hair and blue eyes. Some of his teeth were missing and he had scars on his face. "You look like you could use some cheering up…" The man said as Draxnew walked closer, ready to fight in case anything happened.

"Yeah…why do you care?" Draxnew asked. 'This guy creeps me out…'

"You look like you miss someone, a girl perhaps." The man continued.

Draxnew tensed up. "How did you…?" He took a step back.

"I can read people easily, it's a little gift I have." The man replied. "I got a nice drug for you, it can show you what you miss most."

"I tried some of that, but it knocked me out." Draxnew said, he looked around a bit, but nobody passing by paid any attention to the two.

"How much did you drink?" The man asked with a furrowed brow.

"The entire vial…" Draxnew said, he knew he wasn't suppose to by the way the man asked.

"The entire vial? Of course that'd knock you out, ya idiot!" The man scolded. "You're only suppose to take the tinniest of sips to stay conscious. I'll sell you another vial for one hundred ryō for a vial." The man offered.

Draxnew thought for a moment. 'Should I really do this? If I got caught, I'd be thrown in jail! No…it's worth the risk to see Xion…' Draxnew thought as he made up his mind. "Deal." He fished around in his pocket and pulled out one hundred ryō and gave it to the shady stranger. "Here."

The man took the money and gave Draxnew a vial of the same drugs he had before. "Pleasure doing business. I'll be in this same spot in case you need more. Just don't tell anyone I'm here, alright?"

Draxnew nodded in reply and left the alleyway, pocketing his vial. As Draxnew kept walking, he noticed Shinobi with headbands different from Konoha's. Every time he turned a corner, he saw a group of foreign Shinobi. 'What the hell is going on…?' Draxnew thought. As Draxnew looked at a passing group of foreign Shinobi, he heard a voice from the other side of a nearby fence.

"Hey! Let me go!" The voice sounded like it belonged to a little kid. Draxnew looked over the fence and saw a foreign Shinobi wearing a black full body suit with a yellow and red circle of the front, he also wore a hood that was shaped like ears. He had purple face paint and a headband on his forehead that Ohame wore. On his back was a large, bandaged object with what seemed like brown hair coming from the top of the object. He was holding a small boy by the scruff of the front of his shirt. The boy was young, no older than eight and had a grey shirt with the Konoha symbol, grey shorts, a blue scarf, and green goggles like Naruto used to wear.

"Kankuro, come on, let's go." A girl said, she was also a foreign Shinobi and was talking to the other foreign Shinobi. She had green eyes and yellow hair, which had four pigtails. She wore a simple light-purple garment going past her waist, which had a red garment tied around it. On her back she had a large fan. Her headband was around her neck.

"Cut it out you creep! Let go of Konohamaru!" Another voice shouted. Draxnew looked and saw Naruto and Sakura there. Naruto ran towards Kankuro, who smirked and, with his free hand, twitched his fingers and suddenly Naruto tripped backwards. "What the hell!"

Draxnew leapt over the fence and ran at Kankuro, who dropped the small boy and smacked Draxnew away easily. "It looks like the wimps called for reinforcements…" Kankuro sneered.

"Really, we don't want any trouble…" Sakura said. Kankuro ignored her and took the object off his back, but before he could do anything, a rock hit him on the hand. "What…?"

Everyone turned and looked to see Sasuke up in a nearby tree. Two weeks have passed and the cut on Sasuke's face healed, though a noticeable, red scar remained. "Why are you foreigners in Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

"You son of a bitch…" Kankuro growled. He reached for the bandaged object.

"Kankuro, stop. You're embarrassing our village." A voice commanded. The voice was quiet and monotone, but had a lot of power behind it. Everyone looked at a nearby branch to Sasuke and saw a boy standing on the branch, upside down. The boy was short with blood-red hair and sea foam green eyes with black markings around them. There was a kanji for love on his forehead in red, also he had no eyebrows. The boy was very pale and wore a black full body suit he had a white cloth going from his left shoulder to right hip and a leather band going from his right shoulder to his left hip. His headband was wrapped around the leather band. On his back was a large, cracked gourd. "I'm sorry if my brother caused any trouble…" The boy said as he jumped off the branch and next to Kankuro.

'I didn't even notice him appear…' Sasuke thought. 'How did he do that?' Sasuke hopped from his branch down to his comrades.

"B-But…" Kankuro stammered. "They started it, I swear." Kankuro pointed to Team Seven and Konohamaru.

"Kankuro, shut up. Or I'll kill you." The red-haired boy demanded. Kankuro gulped and got his bandaged object and remained silent. "I apologize again for how my siblings behaved." The boy and his siblings turned to leave.

"Wait, what's your name?" Sasuke asked.

The girl turned around. "You mean me? I'm Temari!" She said.

"Not you…the guy with the gourd." Sasuke said, pointing to said boy.

The red-haired boy turned around. "My name is Sabaku no Gaara. What's your name?"

Sasuke smirked. "Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto pointed to himself with his thumb and grinned. "I bet you want to know my name, right?" He asked.

Gaara glanced at Sasuke. "I don't care." He said in a bored tone. Naruto put on an angry expression, but didn't say anything.

"You haven't told us why you guys are here." Sasuke said accusingly.

"We're here to participate in the Chunin exams." Gaara explained. "Twice every year, Genin can partake in these exams to become Chunin, every time the Chunin exams happen, it's in a different village, and it's Konoha's turn this time. Come on, we're going." Gaara told his siblings. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari left the four Genin.

"…Why can't you be cool like Sasuke is, boss?" Konohamaru asked, talking to Naruto.

"Get lost!" Naruto commanded, in an angered tone. Konohamaru left in a hurry.

"Boss?" Draxnew asked with a raised brow.

"Don't ask." Naruto muttered, obviously annoyed.

"Hello, everyone." A voice called from behind the Genin, they turned around to see Kakashi. "I know this is a bit sudden, but I've signed you up for the Chunin selection exam." Kakashi took out four pieces of paper and gave them to the Genin. "Fill these out and turn them in at Room 301 at the Academy." Kakashi instructed. "Even though I'm giving you these applications, whether you decide to partake in the exams is up to you. That is all." Kakashi finished as he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Wow! The Chunin Exams! I'm definitely entering!" Naruto said as he looked over the application. 'I can't wait to beat Sasuke.' Naruto thought as he glared at the Uchiha.

"I'm going to enter too." Sasuke said. 'Maybe I'll get to fight that Gaara guy…' Sasuke thought with a smirk.

"I guess I'll enter…" Draxnew muttered. 'That boy, something was off about him…' Draxnew thought.

"…I guess I'll enter too…" Sakura said. 'I don't really want to, what if I'm not good enough…?'

"I'll catch you guys later, I've got something important to do…" Draxnew said, without waiting for a reply, he jumped over the fence and walked towards his place in the forest. As he was walking, someone passed by with a pencil sticking out of their pocket, which Draxnew snatched as he kept going. 'Those guys were strong…I wonder how I'll do in these exams, whatever they are.' Draxnew made it back to his little clearing and filled out the application. "Oh well…" Draxnew took out the vial and smiled to himself. If one were to come across Draxnew at any point for the rest of the day, they would just see him laying on the ground, whispering sweet nothings to a girl that wasn't even there.

The next door, the Academy was filled with students, from Konoha and many other villages. Team Seven entered the building and went to room 301 and saw some commotion. Two boys were standing in front of the door and wouldn't let anyone through. Both boys were from Konoha and both had brown hair. One had three bandages on his face and spiky hair, the other had hair covering half his face and was knocking another boy away from the door. This boy was dressed in a green jumpsuit and had black hair in a bowl haircut and had bandages on his arms, he had a red Konoha headband around his waist. What was odd about him was his eyebrows, which were comically large. "If you can't even get through us? You're not ready for this exam, none of you are." The boy without the bandages said.

A girl approached the two boys. She also had brown hair that was in a Chignon. She had brown and a Konoha headband n her forehead. She wore a pink sleeveless outfit with green pants. "What gives you the right to-" She started but the boy with bandages slapped her across the face.

"You're just kids, people have gone crazy or died from taking these exams, you're not ready at all. We're doing you a favor." The bandaged boy sneered.

Sasuke smirked. "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm going to the third floor. This is just a genjutsu, we're still on the second floor." Sasuke said.

"…So you noticed…" The bandage-less boy said. The room 301 sign became a room 201 sign.

A boy who was with the boy in the green jumpsuit and the girl with the Chignon approached Sasuke. The boy had long, brown hair which reached his back and was tied up near the end. He wore a light brown shirt and dark brown shorts. He had bandages on his right arm and left leg and had a black Konoha headband on his forehead. His eyes looked just like Hinata's, grey and with ought pupils. "You, what's your name?" The boy asked.

'Why is it always Sasuke?' Naruto gritted his teeth in anger.

"I don't have to answer to you." Sasuke said as he started going up the stairs with his team. All the other Shinobi went up as well.

The two boys guarding the door enveloped themselves in smoke to reveal they're actually adults. "This exam will be interesting, even for us examiners."

Team Seven was right outside the door when the boy in the green jumpsuit walked up to Sakura. "Hello, my name is Rock Lee, and you are Sakura, correct?" Lee smiled and his teeth sparkles. "We should go out! I'll protect you until I die!" He said energetically.

Sakura seemed horrified by Lee. "No…you're weird." Sakura said, backing up slightly from Lee who hunched his shoulders. 'How did he know my name?'

Lee turned to Sasuke. 'Neji seemed interested in this guy.' Lee thought. "How about you and I fight before the exams?" Lee asked.

"Sure, it should only take five minutes." Sasuke said smugly. He went into the room next to 301, which was large and empty.

'What's with this guy? He freaks me out a bit.' Draxnew thought as he observed Lee.

'Man, why is it always about Sasuke?' Naruto clenched his fist as he glared at Sasuke. Naruto, Sakura, and Draxnew stood off to the side of the room as Sasuke and Lee went to the center.

"What is your name?" Lee asked Sasuke as he got into a fighting pose.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke answered with a smirk. 'This guy looks ridiculous, he probably isn't tough at all…' Sasuke thought.

"Ah, it will be nice to fight a member of the genius Uchiha clan." Lee said with a smile. He turned to Sakura. "Also…" He looked at Sakura and winked, as she shuddered in disgust.

"Wait! I want to fight you!" Naruto said as he walked towards Lee. "It should take five minutes." Naruto, without waiting for a response, charged at Lee. "I'm sick of hearing about Sasuke!"

In a blink of an eye, Lee crouched to the floor and kicked Naruto's legs, sweeping him off the floor, he spun and kicked Naruto again, sending the boy into a wall. "You cannot defeat me." Lee told Sasuke. 'I'm doing this for you Gai-sensei!'

"This should be fun." Sasuke charged at Lee who vanished. "What the…?" Sasuke suddenly felt a great pain in his face as Lee appeared and kicked him in the face, sending Sasuke backwards to the floor. "What the hell! How did he do that?" Sasuke muttered as he stood up. 'At least now I can train my new technique…' Sasuke said as he activated his Sharingan, unlike last time, Sasuke's Sharingan has two tomoes in both eyes.

Sakura gazes at Sasuke's eyes. 'His Sharingan improved, he's the best!' She thought with a smile. She suddenly looked at Draxnew and noticed that he looked pale and a bit weak. She hadn't noticed because of how nerve raking the day was going so far. "Draxnew, are you okay? You don't look so good…"

Draxnew seemed a little shocked at the question. "I'm fine. Really, don't worry about me." He said as he watched Sasuke and Lee.

'With my Sharingan, this guy doesn't stand a chance.' Sasuke thought as he charged at Lee. He prepared to punch Lee in the face when the boy vanished. "What the…?" Suddenly, Lee reappeared, crouching down and then kicked Sasuke, in the chin, sending him into the air. "H-How…?" Sasuke gasped.

"How did he do that?" Sakura exclaimed, worried for her Sasuke-kun. Draxnew just watched intently and Naruto got up from the floor and rubbed his head. "It must be a genjutsu or something!"

Lee smirked. "It is neither ninjutsu or genjutsu!" Lee remarked as he jumped into the air behind Sasuke, acting like his shadow. "I only use taijutsu, Sasuke. Your Sharingan is useless against it." Lee explained.

"B-But how…?" Sasuke asked, too shocked to even defend himself against Lee. "That's impossible!"

Lee started unraveling the bandages on his arms. "Even if you use your Sharingan to track my movements, it is useless unless your body is fast enough to retaliate." Lee finished unraveling his bandages. "It is time to end this!" Before Lee could do anything, a shuriken hit his bandages, pinning them to a wall.

"Lee! That's enough!" A voice called. Sakura, Naruto, and Draxnew turned to see a large, red tortoise with yellow swirls on his shell and a Konoha headband hanging around his neck. "You know you are forbidden to use that technique!" The tortoise scolded as Lee quickly made himself fall to the floor.

Sasuke didn't even move and didn't protect himself from the fall. "Sasuke-kun! Are you alright?" Sakura called as she rushed to Sasuke's side.

'What's with that tortoise!' Draxnew thought as he gawked at Lee apologizing to the large reptile. "Another talking animal…" He muttered aloud.

Naruto got up and pointed to the tortoise in disbelief. "Do you think that thing…is his sensei!" He exclaimed.

"Don't be stupid Naruto, a tortoise can't be a sensei." Sakura scolded.

"There is no excuse for your actions! Are you prepared to pay for your actions?" The tortoise asked. Lee nodded in fear. "Alright then, here's Gai-Sensei!" The tortoise yelled as a puff of smoke went off on his back.

"It's so great to see so many youthful Shinobi!" A voice shouted from the smoke as it cleared. Standing on the tortoise's shell stood a man. He had the same black hair with a bowl haircut as Lee and even larger, fuzzier eyebrows. He wore the same green jumpsuit as Lee, except this man had a green vest like Kakashi and also had his headband in the same place as Lee.

"Gai-Sensei!" Lee exclaimed with fear as he backed up a few steps.

"Whaaaat?" Team Seven exclaimed, staring at the very strange man who just appeared.

"So thick…like catepillars…" Sasuke said in shock.

"So disgusting…" Sakura muttered, pointing at Gai's eyebrows.

"I've never seen eyebrows like that before…" Naruto muttered in disgust.

"What's with all these freaks?" Draxnew exclaimed. "I'm sick of it!"

Lee turned to Team Seven "How dare you mock Gai-Sensei!" He shouted as he clenched his fists.

"Lee! That's enough!" Gai said. "Now then…" Gai said as he punched Lee in the face, sending the boy into the air and onto the floor. "YOU'RE A FOOL!" He roared.

"What!" Team Seven exclaimed again, shocked by Gai's actions. They all backed up a little as Gai approached Lee.

"Lee…you…" Gai said as he knelt by his student, Lee was about to talk but Gai interrupted. "It's alright Lee, you don't need to say it." Gai said, now with tears in his eyes as he and Lee hugged, Lee joined in the crying. "LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee exclaimed as the two men held each other and cried.

Team Seven was once again shocked by the two men's actions. "I…lost to this guy…?" Sasuke muttered. 'I can't believe this…'

"Lee, I forgive you for your actions, but you will still be punished." Gai said as both he and Lee stood up. "After the Chunin Exams, fifty laps around the village!" Gai said with a bright smile. Gai then suddenly turned to Team Seven, who recoiled. 'Aren't these kids…'

"He's…staring at us." Draxnew muttered. 'Good God, is he going to hug us too!' Draxnew wondered, taking a step back.

"Say…how's Kakashi doing?" Gai asked, giving another bright smile.

"You…know Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked in disbelief. 'How could Kakashi be acquainted with this weirdo!'

"Of course!" Gai said, his face beaming. "He and I…" Gai suddenly vanished, much to Team Seven's surprise. "…are Eternal Rivals!" Gai finished, suddenly behind Team Seven who turned around, Draxnew fell backwards onto the floor in surprise. "I have fifty wins and forty-nine losses. Right now I'm stronger than Kakashi!" He said with a thumbs up. "Well then, you five should head to the classroom or you'll be late. Good luck, Lee!" Gai said as he and his tortoise vanished.

'That guy…is better than Kakashi?' Sasuke thought. 'No way…unbelievable…'

Lee reapplied his bandages as he turned to Team Seven. "Sasuke, before I depart, there's one last thing I must say. I challenged you to test my abilities. Well then, good luck on your exams!" Lee said as he vanished.

Draxnew got up. "Man…that was too weird…" He muttered. "Did any of you notice how injured his hands are? He must train to his limit everyday."

"Well then…" Sasuke started as he put his hands in his pockets. "It looks like this exam's gonna be a lot of fun." Sasuke headed out the door. "Let's go guys." The other three Genin followed Sasuke. Outside the classroom was a familiar 'face'. Kakashi was standing there. "Kakashi-sensei?"

"I just came here to wish you guys luck on your exams, they won't be easy but you must never give up, you must work together the entire way, understand?" Kakashi asked. The four Genin nodded. "Good luck." Kakashi said as he stepped out the way and let the Genin enter the room. 'I know they'll do fine.' Kakashi smiled as he vanished.

"Whoah…what is this…?" Sakura muttered. The classroom was filled almost to the brim with Shinobi of varying ages and nationalities. 'I didn't know there'd be so many…' Sakura looked nervous, as did the rest of Team Seven.

"Sasuke-kun!" A female shouted as Ino jumped onto Sasuke's back and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's been so long! I see you've got a scar…how sexy!" She mused. Sasuke glared at her in annoyance.

"Get off of him, you pig!" Sakura yelled and pointing at Ino. Ino just stuck her tongue out.

Shikamaru and Chōji followed behind Ino. "You guys are taking these exams too? How troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered.

"You guys made it too?" A voice called, everyone turned to see Kiba, Hinata, and Shino walking towards the group. "It looks like we all made it. Are you sure you can handle this, Naruto?" Kiba asked with a sneer.

"Shut the hell up, Kiba! Sasuke might lose to you, but I sure as hell won't!" Naruto yelled, taking a step towards Kiba.

"You guys might want to stop yelling." Another voice called. A white-haired boy approached the group. He wore glasses and had a purple shirt, pants, and gloves. He had blue sandals and a white cloth around his waist, and white sleeves from an undershirt coming from his purple shirt. He wore a Konoha headband around his forehead. "You're just rookies, right?"

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked as Ino got off his back to look at the newcomer.

"I'm Kabuto, more importantly, look behind you." Kabuto said. The rookies turned and saw almost everyone else in the room was glaring at them. "Everyone is really nervous about the exams, you need to keep quiet. Of course, being rookies, I can't really blame you. I used to be like you, in fact, this is my seventh time taking the exam." Kabuto took some cards out. "I know a lot about the exams, and the participants, how about I show you with my info cards?"

"Info cards?" Sakura asked as she looked at the large stack of cards.

"I burned information into these cards with my chakra. They appear blank, but if I apply some chakra, they show information. Like I said, I have some information on individuals, my information isn't perfect, but it's pretty accurate." Kabuto explained.

Sasuke spoke up. "Show me Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee." Sasuke said.

"Alright then." Kabuto took two cards from the deck and placed one on the floor. He placed a finger on the card and concentrated and an image of Rock Lee appeared with information suck as the team he's on, his home village, and the number of missions completed. "He's a year older than you guys. He specializes in taijutsu, but nothing else is very noteworthy. His sensei is Might Gai and his two teammates are Hyuga Neji and Tenten." Kabuto explained. He used his chakra on the other card and a picture of Gaara appeared. "Sabaku no Gaara…I don't have much info on him since he's from a foreign country. Though, on an interesting note, he's returned from every mission without a scratch." Kabuto said. "Is that all?" Kabuto asked.

"No…one more." Sasuke said as he glanced at Draxnew. "Have any information on Draxnew?" Sasuke asked, Draxnew tensed up and sweated a little.

"Why do you want info on your teammate?" Kabuto asked, noticing Sasuke glance at Draxnew.

"Just do it." Sasuke demanded. 'I know there's something odd about Draxnew…'

"Alright, fine." Kabuto took out a third card and activated it. "Hmmm. Odd. I don't have much information on him. No last name, no village records before Konoha…and no skill in any sort of jutsu…" Kabuto murmured as he, along with everyone else in the group, stared at Draxnew.

In the crowd on Shinobi, three of them stared at Kabuto. There were two males and a female and they all had headbands on their foreheads with a musical note on them. The girl had long, black hair and wore gray pants with a black camouflage pattern and a green vest with a grey camouflage scarf as well. One boy had black, spiky hair with a face guard and wore the same pants and scarf as the girl did, only he had a light yellow shirt with a kanji on it. The last member was very short, and seemed to have a hunch. He wore bandages that almost covered his entire face, except for his left eye. He wore a long, grey shirt with very long sleeves and has a camouflage scarf as well, his shirt had a large patch of fur, covering its entire back. "Should we do it now…?" The spiky-haired guy asked.

"Let's do it…" The shortest member agreed as the three vanished. Suddenly, the spiky-haired male appeared in midair and threw kunai at Kabuto, who stepped back as the bandaged boy appeared right in front of him, he swung at Kabuto's face with his right hand, the sleeve pulled back to reveal a large, metal object on his arm. Kabuto reared his head back to dodge. Everyone else in the group looked at the commotion and were stunned that it happened. Kabuto smirked, but then his glasses shattered and he hunched over in pain.

"What the hell? He dodged the attack!" Naruto exclaimed. The spiky haired boy landed next to the bandaged boy and the girl appeared on the other side of the bandaged boy. "Kabuto, are you alright?" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" Kabuto replied as he shakily got up and dusted himself off.

Before anyone else could move, a puff of smoke went off at the front of the classroom. "SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BASTARDS!" A group of examiners appeared at the front of the class. The one who yelled was the leader of the group and was a very tall and intimidating man with scars on his face. He wore a dark coat and pants and wore a grey shirt. His headband was attached to a piece of cloth covering his head. He had two scars on his face. "My name is Morino Ibiki and I am in charge of the first exam you whelps!"

**See? That wasn't quite as long. As usual, I thank PeinsDisciple for this idea for the drug dealer concept. School starts on Monday for me, so the next update won't happen for at least a month. Sorry!**


	7. A Haunting Past

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew and other OCs. There's some disturbing sexual content. No, it's not a sex scene, perverts.

Chapter 7: A Haunting Past

Everyone in the room turned towards the large, intimidating man who glared at the three Shinobi who attacked Kabuto. "You three, Sound Shinobi!" Ibiki shouted. "You can't just do whatever the fuck you feel like! Keep this up and you will fail! Understood?" Ibiki shouted while pointing at the kids.

The bandaged Sound Shinobi gazed at Ibiki. "So sorry, we just got a bit carried away…" He said nonchalantly, despite Ibiki's glare and threats.

Ibiki rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter! None of you fight unless I give permission!" Ibiki barked at the nervous Genin. "Anyone who disobeys my orders will fail. Got it!" A few Genin nodded, but most just continued to stare in fear. "Now then, before we begin the first exam, you'll be assigned your seats." Ibiki said as he and the Chunin with him took out papers.

"Oh no…" Naruto muttered. "Not a paper test!" He exclaimed in despair. After a few minutes, everyone was in their assigned seats and Naruto was looking terrified, he was so worried he didn't notice Hinata talking to him.

"Naruto-kun…Naruto-kun." Hinata timidly tapped him on the shoulder, causing Naruto to flinch, which made Hinata flinch as well. "Oh…sorry…"

"Oh, hey Hinata! I didn't even notice you there!" Naruto greeted, dropping his nervous look for a second. 'I didn't even notice her…' Naruto slumped in his chair slightly.

Draxnew, meanwhile, was sitting next to Gaara. The Nobody couldn't help but keep glancing at Gaara nervously, he could tell that this kid was out of his league. Draxnew stopped this when Ibiki started talking. "Alright, listen up maggots, there are some rules you need to know, I'll write them on the board, and you can't ask any questions." Ibiki said as he got some chalk. "First rule, all of you start off with ten points. The test has ten questions, each worth one point." Ibiki wrote this on the board as he spoke. "Second rule, since this is a written test, whether you pass or not depends on your team's total score."

"Wait, I don't understand!" A male Shinobi with a headband with a rectangle on it called out. "Why is this a team test?" He asked.

"Shut the hell up!" Ibiki barked. "You don't have the right to question me! Anyway, the third rule is if you are caught cheating, you get two points taken away every offense. These examiners will be watching your every move, if you get caught five times, you lose all your points. Also, if one person gets a zero, the entire team fails." Ibiki said with a smirk.

'Oh God…' Naruto thought as he banged his head against the desk. 'I'm so dead…'

'Naruto, you'd better not screw up…' Sasuke thought, looking at Naruto from behind.

"Now then, the test will last one hour. Turn over your papers and begin!" Ibiki ordered.

Sakura gazed at Naruto. 'Please don't get zero points Naruto…' She looked very worried.

Naruto seemed confident as he looked down at his test. 'This shouldn't be too hard…I've faced tougher challenges…' He smiled as he looked over the first question. "Hmmm…" He thought about the question. 'I'll just look over the next one…' He started to get worried.

Draxnew, meanwhile, was in the same situation. 'These are very complicated…' He thought to himself. 'I can't answer any of these. What am I supposed to do…?' Draxnew glanced over at Gaara, who was emotionlessly staring at his paper. 'He seems eerily calm about this…' Draxnew looked down at the final question. 'The tenth question is odd as well. It won't be revealed for forty five minutes.' Draxnew put down his pencil and stared off into space. 'Nothing I can do…' Draxnew sat there for a few seconds. '…I wonder if the Organization is still looking for me? If they do…I'm not sure what I'll do against them…' Draxnew started to breath deeply to calm himself down.

Sasuke mused to himself. 'I don't know any of these…I'm curious, why do we only get two points deducted every time we cheat? Why not instant failure? There must be a reason.' Sasuke thought for a minute. 'Unless…we have to cheat, but avoid being caught.' Sasuke smiled and closed his eyes, when he opened them his Sharingan was activated. 'I just hope Naruto, Sakura, and Draxnew figure this out too.'

Kankuro noticed Gaara outstretch his hand. 'It seems like Gaara's starting.' Kankuro looked at one of the examiners. 'Don't let me down, Karasu.'

Draxnew looked over at Gaara and noticed floating sand around the boy's hand. 'What the hell?' Draxnew wondered. 'Is he…controlling sand?' Suddenly, a kunai whizzed by Draxnew's ear and hit the paper of the boy behind him paper.

The examiner who threw the kunai smirked. "You messed up five times, you and your team are out." Everyone watched as two other boys got up and left with the first. Over the next half hour, several more teams were eliminated and some had to be forced out of the room.

Draxnew glanced back over at Gaara, who now had an eyeball in his hand. 'What the hell is that?' Gaara either didn't notice or care that Draxnew was watching him. Gaara closed his hand and the eyeball turned into sand, which floated into a nearby Shinobi's eye, the eye then reformed and looked at the boy's paper. 'That's quite a technique…'

Kankuro suddenly raised his hand. "Excuse me…I need to use the restroom." Kankuro called out. The examiner he was looking at earlier put handcuffs on his and escorted him out of the room. "I can't believe those examiners didn't notice they had an extra guy. Now then, start giving the answers, Karasu."

Back in the classroom, Ibiki looked at the clock. 'Well then, now's a good time as any.' Ibiki stood up from his chair. "Alright, listen up! It's time for the tenth question!" Everyone in the room tensed up, Ibiki smirked at this. "Before I tell you, there's something I need to add to the question." Ibiki continued. He paused as Kankuro entered the room again and sat down, as did the "examiner", Ibiki smirked. "Did that doll help you out?" Kankuro looked surprised, but said nothing. "For this question, you must choose whether you'll answer it or not. If you choose not to, you and your team fail." Ibiki smirked. "However, if you take it and get the answer wrong, you and your team will never be allowed to participate in the exams again." Everyone in the roomed looked frightened. "Well, who here wants to leave?" He questioned.

The Shinobi with the rectangle headband stood up. "I'm out, too much pressure." He stood as another boy and a girl followed him out. Several other teams got up and left as well.

"Any others?" Ibiki asked as he glared at everyone.

Naruto was shaking. 'If I don't take the question…the others might be mad…but if I take it and fail, I'll never be Hokage…' Naruto was shaking.

Sakura looked at Naruto. 'Why aren't you raising your hand, Naruto? You can't do this…I don't want him to fail and have his spirit crushed.' Sakura smiled. She started to raise her own hand, but then Naruto's hand shot straight up.

"Are you giving up…?" Ibiki mused. He looked taken back slightly when Naruto slammed his hand down on the table.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto shouted, surprising several of the other Genin. "Who cares if I fail, as long as I try my hardest, who cares? Any self-respecting Shinobi should feel the same way!" Naruto said as he smiled. Several other Genin smiled as well.

"I see…so any others?" Ibiki asked. Nobody moved or said anything. "No? Alright then. Congratulations! You pass the first exam!" Ibiki said with a genuine smile.

"What?" Draxnew exclaimed. "What about the tenth question, old man?"

"There is no tenth question. You could also say that those two choices was the tenth question." Ibiki replied, still smiling, but it receded a little from Draxnew calling him an old man. 'Am I really old?'

"Then, what about the other nine questions? They were pointless!" Sakura called out.

"Those weren't pointless. Those questions were there to test your ability to gather information. I made the questions extremely difficult, so people would have no choice but to cheat." Ibiki started to untie the knot on his headpiece. "Sometimes, people try to cheat, but fail. Sometimes, information is more important than a life, as you may all learn someday." Ibiki removed his headpiece to show severe burn marks, scars, and holes in his head, many Genin recoiled as he did this. "On the battlefield, people risk their lives for information, by any means necessary."

"I still don't get the tenth question…" Temari said as Ibiki reapplied his headpiece.

"The meaning of the tenth question is whether to go for it or not. Sometimes you'll have to make difficult, painful, choices. Sometimes a teammate's life may be at stake and it will be up to you to decide your next action." Ibiki smiled. "I wish you all good luck on your-" Ibiki suddenly stopped as something burst through the window, it was a woman. She landed in front of Ibiki. The woman had violet hair and light brown eyes, she wore a tan overcoat with a fishnet-like shirt underneath, she also wore an orange skirt, and her headband was on her forehead. "Early again…" Ibiki muttered under his breath.

"No time for rest!" The woman yelled. "I am your second proctor, Mitarashi Anko! Let's go!" She yelled.

'Oh God…she's like a second Naruto…' Sasuke thought with a sigh.

Ibiki tapped her on the shoulder. "You're early, Anko…" He muttered darkly.

Anko shrugged. "Whatever, alright, all of you follow me to the location of your second test!" She ordered.

Later, all the remaining Genin and Anko were standing in front of a fence, inside the fence was a large forest. The trees towered higher than most of the buildings in Konoha. Several roars could be heard from the forest. The fence had many gates, at large distances apart. "This is looks like fun…" Draxnew said sarcastically.

"Welcome to Practice Arena 44, also known as, the Forest of death!" Anko said, gesturing to the shadowy forest. "Now then, for the second test, it is basically a survival mission. The main goal is to get to the tower at the middle of the forest, but that's not all. Each team will be given an earth scroll, or a heaven scroll." Anko took out each scroll, which were brown and white respectively. "If you encounter a team with the opposite scroll, you must fight for it, no rules. Half the teams will get heaven, and the other half will get earth. To pass, you must reach the tower with both scrolls. There's also a time limit, you have exactly five days to reach the tower, or else you fail. One last rule, you can't open either scroll before entering the tower or else you fail." Anko gestured to a booth with a cloth on the front. "Now then when I call out your team, go inside the booth and get your scroll."

'We don't see who gets each scroll.' Sasuke looked around at the opposing teams. 'Everyone here is an enemy.' After twenty minutes, every team had their scroll and was waiting at their designated gates, assigned by Anko. Team Seven had the earth scroll.

"Alright everybody, BEGIN!" Anko shouted as all the gates opened and everyone sprinted into the forest.

After a half hour, Team Seven stopped for a short rest. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" A scream rang out through the forest.

"Eep!" Sakura squeaked. "That sounded like a human scream…" She said fearfully. "I'm starting to get nervous…" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Naruto started walking to a bush. "I gotta take a leak." He started to unzip his pants when both Sakura and Draxnew punched him on the back of the head. "AH!"

"Don't you dare!" Sakura yelled. "Definitely not in front of me!" She scolded. 'Of course, if it was Sasuke-kun…'

"That's really gross, Naruto." Draxnew scolded. "Get out of our sight first."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Alright, alright. Geez." He walked out of sight. Ten minutes later, he came back looking satisfied. "Much better now…" Sasuke suddenly kneed Naruto in the stomach. "GAH!"

"Sasuke-kun, what are you two doing!" Sakura exclaimed. Naruto got up and rubbed his stomach.

"This isn't Naruto." Sasuke said as got ready to attack again. "He's a fake." Draxnew got into a fighting position. "Naruto's shuriken holster is on your left side, the real Naruto has it on his right." Sasuke said. "Where's the real Naruto?" He demanded.

The fake Naruto smirked and a puff of smoke enveloped him and changed back to his normal form. This boy had brown spiky hair and a white cloth over his eyes, with eyeholes. He had an odd air mask on his mouth. He wore a tan jumpsuit. His headband has four vertical lines on it. "Impressive, but I'm still taking your scroll!" The boy lunged at the trio.

Sasuke made some hand seals. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke spat small fireballs at the enemy Shinobi. The boy dodged and retreated slightly as Sasuke went into the trees and found Naruto. "Idiot…" He untied Naruto just as the enemy came back and threw kunai at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged but left himself open, the masked boy was about to attack when Draxnew appeared in front of him and attacked with his sword, the boy tried to dodge completely, but Draxnew managed to slice his entire left hand off.

"AAHHH! You bastard!" The boy yelled, he clutched his bleeding stump where his hand was and ran away as Draxnew smirked and made his sword vanish.

"That was awesome!" Naruto said as the three boys walked back to Sakura. "Sorry about that guys, he snuck up on me…" Naruto apologized.

Sasuke sighed. "We can't let his happen again. We need to come up with a codeword, so if we get separated and rejoin, we'll know that nobody's a fake." Sasuke thought for a moment. "It will the song "Nin machine", got it?" Sasuke said. "A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the Shinobi, hide and remain silent. A Shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared." Sasuke recited. "Everybody got that?"

"That sounds hard…" Naruto complained, scratching the back of his head. "That's impossible to remember.

"No it's not, I've already memorized it." Sakura scolded, Draxnew nodded in agreement.

"Well, let's go!" Draxnew got up and ran ahead, when suddenly, a large explosion went off, sending Naruto and Draxnew flying in opposite directions. "AAAAAAAAHHH!" Draxnew yelled as he flew miles from his team. Draxnew fell into some trees, hitting branches along the way and he landed on the ground headfirst. "Uuughh…" Draxnew lost consciousness. An hour later, he woke up with a massive headache. "Ow…what the hell happened…?" Draxnew looked around. "…Fuck!" Draxnew rubbed his head.

"Awww…did little Draxy hurt his head?" A teasing female voice called. The voice seem to come from everywhere. "It's been a while…hasn't it?" The voice rang.

Draxnew frantically looked around for the source of the voice. 'I-It couldn't be…' Draxnew started to breath heavily in fear. "W-Who are you?" He called, he heard a familiar crackle and ducked as a kunai giving off electricity missed him and hit a tree. "No…"

A black void appeared from the ground and out of it stepped someone who was all too familiar to Draxnew. The woman was a full head taller than Draxnew wearing the Organization uniform. She had emerald green eyes, she had light yellow hair with two long strands that looked like antennae. "Did you miss me?" She mused sadistically.

By this point, Draxnew was practically hyperventilating. "L-Larxene! H-How did you f-find me!" Draxnew choked out between breaths. He started backing up as Larxene walked closer.

"Just luck, I suppose." Larxene said with a smirk. "It's been a whole month and-" Larxene started.

"A month? I've been here for over two months." Draxnew said, backing up into a tree as his knees buckled.

"I guess this is a world where time flow differently then ours. Anyway, I'll give you one chance to come quietly…or else." Larxene summoned more electrified kunai. "Just come quietly."

Draxnew shook his head and summoned his Dark Sword. "N-Never! I'd rather disappear!" Draxnew yelled.

Larxene smirked. "That can be arranged." She threw her kunais at Draxnew, who once again ducked them. Draxnew tried to jump over Larxene, but she grabbed his foot, causing him to slam into the ground. "Pathetic, as always." Larxene taunted. She laid down on top of Draxnew and pinned his hands to the ground. "Just like old times, eh?" Larxene brought her mouth to Draxnew's ear. "I suppose it's best you don't come back…" Larxene said. Draxnew tried to get her off, but she might as well of been one of the towering trees. "Not even Xion misses you." Larxene whispered.

"No, that's a lie!" Draxnew argued as he continued to struggle. Xion loves him! Of course she misses him, Draxnew knew that. Draxnew gave up the struggle.

Larxene gave a devilish grin. "Well, you're wrong. After you left, Xion started sleeping with all the guys in the Organization, ALL of them. She even slept with Nam-" Larxene started.

"SHUT UP! Shut your fucking mouth!" Draxnew yelled, he knew Xion would never do that to him. "Don't you ever insult her like that!" Draxnew tried struggling again, but failed at getting free again.

"Oh, come on Draxy, don't be like that, if you came back, it'd be just like old times." Larxene laughed and wasn't prepared for Draxnew to crane his neck and bite her in the neck. "Gah!" Larxene yanked Draxnew's face away from her neck. "Fuck it! I'll just kill you!" Larxene started strangling Draxnew. Draxnew bit her hand, Larxene retracted her hand, allowing Draxnew to punch Larxene off of him.

Draxnew spat on the ground. "Ugh…disgusting." Draxnew summoned his Dark Sword and charged at Larxene and aimed to chop her head off, but Larxene ducked and punched Draxnew in the gut. Draxnew retaliated by elbowing Larxene on the side of the face, making her stagger back a little. Draxnew didn't let her rest for a moment as he charged again. Larxene fired a bolt of electricity with Draxnew used his sword to block. Draxnew kept charging as he slashed at Larxene again who dodged and kicked him in the throat. "Gah…you bitch…!" Draxnew choked out.

Larxene smirked as she threw a kunai at Draxnew, who tried to dodge, but the kunai grazed his cheek, drawing some darkness from the wound. "Damn!" She threw several more kunais, Draxnew ducked under them and leapt at Larxene and tried once again to slice her head off, but Larxene smacked the sword, sending it flying, she then punched Draxnew in the face. Draxnew snapped his fingers and teleported out of sight. "What the…? Where did you go!" Larxene saw something from the corner of her eye, she looked up just in time to see Draxnew head but her in the face. "Ugh…" Larxene staggered as Draxnew punched Larxene with all of his might, knocking her out.

Draxnew stood there, panting. "…Time to finish this…" Draxnew walked over and picked up his sword and raised it above his head, ready to kill Larxene once and for all. Draxnew was about to bring the sword down when he stopped himself. "No…I can't kill her. It'd seem suspicious if she died in this world." Draxnew made his sword vanish and thought for a minute. "Maybe…" Draxnew grabbed Larxene and snapped his fingers, teleporting out of the world.

The room was white, all white. From the walls, to the bed, to the curtains drawn over the window, to the chair where a young girl sat. The girl was about fifteen years old and had golden yellow hair with sapphire eyes. She wore a single piece of clothing that was just as white as the room she was in, she also wore blue sandals. She was drawing a picture of a man with spiky red hair when she heard a noise from behind her. She turned to see a brunette boy in an Organization cloak with an unconscious blonde woman, also in an Organization cloak. The boy was facing away from her. "I see The Castle That Never Was is just as dull as ever…" The boy muttered, obviously not noticing the girl.

"…Draxnew?" The girl called in a scared voice. Draxnew whipped around and leapt at the girl and tackled her to the floor, pinning her with one hand and covering her mouth with the other.

"It's been awhile, huh Naminé?" Draxnew asked, Naminé said something in reply, but her voice was muffled. "Anyway, I'm going to take my hand away, if you scream or try and get help, I'll snap your neck." Draxnew whispered, he slowly removed his hand and Naminé didn't make a sound. "Good girl." Draxnew got off the shaking girl and went over to Larxene. "I need you to erase Larxene's memories. Unfortunately she found the world I'm in, so just make it so she went to the world I'm in, but couldn't find me, alright?" Draxnew dragged Larxene over.

Naminé picked up her notebook and pencil. "R-Right. I understand…" She stuttered.

Draxnew smiled. "Good, and if anybody finds me, the first thing I'll do is come here and kill you, understand?" Draxnew asked. Naminé nodded. "Good, now what time is it?"

"Almost midnight…I think." Naminé said after thinking for a few seconds. "It's kind of hard to tell without a clock…"

Draxnew smiled again. "Alright, go see if the coast is clear outside." Naminé did so, and came back in. "Anybody out there?" Naminé shook her head. "Good, now then…remember…don't tell anybody I was here." Draxnew left as Naminé started working on Larxene's memories. Draxnew went across to hall into the next room, Xion's room. As he expected, Xion was fast asleep. Draxnew noticed her sleep was troubled as she was groaning and looked like she was in pain. He also noticed on her cheeks were markings were tears fell. "I just needed to see you one more time…" Draxnew whispered. He knelt down and kissed Xion on the lips. She started stirring so he teleported away.

Draxnew reappeared in the Forest of Death. "Now that that's done…I gotta find my team." Draxnew snapped his fingers and teleported to a random spot in he forest, nobody was there. "Damn." He tried again, and again, and again. Eventually he heard a scream, it sounded like Sakura! "Sakura?" Draxnew ran in the direction her voice came from. He found a clearing where Sakura was looking at Lee who was knocked out. There were also the three Sound Shinobi while Naruto and Sasuke were knocked out behind Sakura. "Sakura, are you okay?" Draxnew asked.

"Draxnew! Are you okay? How did you find me?" Sakura asked. Naruto and Sasuke groaned behind her. "Naruto and Sasuke won't wake up!"

Draxnew summoned his sword. "Don't worry, I'll take care of these guys." He said with a smirk.

The hunchbacked Shinobi stepped forward and pulled back his sleeve, revealing the metal device on his arm. "Just give up, I can take care of you with one punch."

Back in The World That Never Was, there was a disturbance. A short, male member of the Organization was pondering. He had grey hair with bangs covering the right side of his face and going well past his chin. He was with a taller man. This man had brown hair with many white streaks and had a ponytail. He had battle scars on his face and had golden eyes and elf-like ears. "I think your scent is just a bit off, man." The taller one said. The shorter one said nothing. "Zexion, did you hear me?"

"I heard you, but my scent is never wrong! I smelled him, Xigbar." Zexion retaliated. "Also, don't you find it a bit weird that Draxnew's scent appears the same time Larxene turns up unconscious? What world was she visiting?"

Xigbar shrugged. "Does it matter? She said she couldn't find Draxnew, maybe she was just drinking a bit and came back drunk, explaining her unconsciousness."

"Then what about his scent! I am NEVER wrong, Xigbar!" Zexion yelled. "He's out there somewhere, I just know it. He's going to pay for going against this Organization! I'm going to go talk with Larxene!" Zexion stormed off.

Xigbar smirked. "Odd kid, but a bit too paranoid. Draxnew being dumb enough to come back here, as if!" Xigbar chuckled and teleported away.

**Well, I DID say it would at least be a month. I know I sound whiny and annoying, but could you people reading PLEASE review? So far only two people reviewed, don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for these reviews. It's just that I can't be motivated to write without some sort of feedback. Alright, I'll try to not have the next chapter take so long, although midterms are coming up, so no promises!**


	8. The Last Leg

The Wayfaring Darkness

Disclaimer: I own nothing except Draxnew and other OCs.

Chapter 8: The Last Leg

The hunchbacked Shinobi glared at Draxnew. "Go on, piss of, or else I'll have to kill you." The boy clenched the fist of the arm that the metal device was on.

"Come on, let me fight him, Dosu." The other boy said. "You got to fight that other kid, it's my turn."

Dosu turned back. "Shut up, Zaku. I'll let you handle the girl, how about that?" He scolded. Zaku sighed and nodded. Dosu turned back to Draxnew and charged. He tried punching the Nobody, but Draxnew stopped him by slashing the metal device. Draxnew broke the clash and jumped high up onto a tree branch.

Draxnew thought for a moment. 'I can't fight him with hand-to-hand combat…He has that metal device. I need to use long range.' Draxnew made his sword vanish as he extended his hand and made a shadow orb appear. He threw it at Dosu, who jumped backwards and dodged. Draxnew sent a barrage of orbs at Dosu who dodged easily.

"Is that all you can do?" Dosu jumped towards Draxnew. Draxnew made another orb, but instead of throwing it, he clapped his other hand over it. The orb split into ten smaller orbs which rested on Draxnew's fingers. "Hmm?" Draxnew flicked each finger and as he did so, the orb on said finger launched at Dosu at a much faster speed than the regular orb. "Oh shi-" Dosu got hit by several of the orbs, scorching his jacket and one hit and scorched his metal device. "Damn!" Dosu landed on the ground. He made some hand seals. "Oto Bouchou no Jutsu!" Dosu swung his arm with the metal device and a large wave of sound was sent towards Draxnew, who was knocked off the branch and landed on the ground. "Direct hit…" Dosu charge forward towards Draxnew again but then Draxnew vanished. "What?" Dosu looked around but couldn't find the Nobody.

Draxnew reappeared above Dosu and before the Oto Nin could even look up, Draxnew kick him square on the top of the head, Dosu was momentarily stunned, giving Draxnew time to kick Dosu in the gut, sending him backwards. Draxnew tried slashing Dosu with his Dark Sword but Dosu blocked it with his metal device. "Too slow." Dosu unleashed a blast of sound, blowing Draxnew's sword away and making the waves go in his ears.

"Agh…" Draxnew collapsed on one knee. "What…" His vision became blurry. The pain in his ears them ring and causing him to see doubled blurry images. 'I can't let this beat me…' Draxnew struggled and got back up.

Dosu chuckled. "Looks like this kid has some fight still in him. I'll change that." Dosu made more hand signs. Before he could finish, Draxnew vanished again. "What?" Dosu quickly looked up, but Draxnew wasn't there.

"Try again!" A voice said from behind Dosu. He turned around as Draxnew kicked him in the face, then ducked down and punched him multiple times in the gut. Draxnew ended his assault with a strong uppercut, sending Dosu off his feet, into the air, and slamming into the ground. Dosu didn't get back up. "Whew…Alright who wants to fight me next?" Draxnew turned to the other two Oto Nin. Zaku approached Draxnew. "This should-"

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura exclaimed. Draxnew and the Oto Nin turned to Sasuke and saw he got up. Something was wrong, Sasuke had a purple aura surrounding him and had black marks over the left side of his body, the marks looked like eerie flames. He also had his Sharingan activated. "What happened to you?"

"What the hell…?" Draxnew muttered.

"Don't worry." Sasuke said in a cold voice. "I feel the power…it feels great." Sasuke smirked. "That other Shinobi must have given me this power." Sasuke said. 'This power may not be right…but I don't care, as long as I can kill him.' Sasuke looked at the Oto Shinobi. "So, you guys have been causing trouble, haven't you?"

Zaku smirked and raised his hands, which had holes in them. "This should be easy!" Zaku smirked as blasts of sound came from the holes in his hands. "Zankūha!" The waves hit Sasuke and enveloped him in a large cloud of dust and smoke. "Too easy…" Zaku sensed someone behind him and turned around just in time to see a fist smack him in the face, sending him backwards to the ground. "So fast…so strong…" Zaku got up and Sasuke was gone again. "What…" He felt someone grab his arms and force them behind him. 'Again!'

"Well, it seems you're rather proud of these arms. Aren't you?" Sasuke placed a foot on Zaku's back. "We'll just have to change that…" Sasuke pulled his arms back and pushed his foot forward until there was a sickening snap and Sasuke let Zaku go, the boy moaning in pain as blood poured from his snapped arms, the bones sticking out of his elbows.

Draxnew summoned his sword. "Now's my chance…" He muttered. He ran to Zaku and quickly stabbed his throat. Zaku struggled and gurgled, but then fell silent. 'That's one down.'

Sasuke smirked, as if he was impressed. "Let's take care of those other two." He turned to the female Oto Nin and Dosu, who was just getting up. "Which one should I kill first?"

"Sasuke-kun, Draxnew! Please stop it!" Sakura shouted. The two boys turned to her and saw she was in tears. "Please stop this…please let them go." She begged. "This isn't like you, Sasuke-kun…" She said. Sasuke froze in place as the flame-like marks receded onto a small mark on his neck which looked like three tomoes.

Sasuke collapsed and clutched the mark. "Ugh…What…?" He muttered as Sakura rushed to his side.

Dosu and the female Shinobi took a few steps back. "It's obvious we can't beat you guys…so please let us go." Dosu took out an Earth Scroll and placed it on the ground. He and his female partner turned to leave.

Sakura shouted. "Wait! Don't leave yet!" The Oto Nin stopped and turned to Sakura. "Why did Orochimaru do this? What did he do exactly, and why did he do it to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura asked.

Dosu shrugged. "I don't know. Orochimaru didn't tell us anything. We just do as we're told." With that Dosu and his partner left, uncaringly leaving the corpse of their teammate behind.

Before anything else could be done, Lee woke up from his unconscious state. "Ugh…what happened?" He asked.

Sakura forced a smile. "Don't worry Lee, the enemy fled." She said. "Thank you so much for protecting me."

Lee smiled and gave a thumbs. "You are most welcome, Sakura! I must now leave you, my team is probably worried…" With that, Lee vanished.

Draxnew made his sword vanish. "So…what did I miss exactly?" Draxnew asked, walking to his conscious teammates.

Sakura sighed. "After you and Naruto were separated from us, Sasuke and I ran into a Shinobi named Orochimaru. Sasuke managed to fight him off and soon Naruto arrived. The man bit Sasuke's neck and did…something to Naruto's stomach. I found refuge here but was ambushed by those sound Shinobi. Lee came to save me, but that hunchbacked guy beat him." Sakura explained. "Also, Orochimaru destroyed our Earth Scroll." She said as Draxnew picked the one Dosu left. He then went over to Naruto. "What are you…"

Draxnew kicked Naruto on the side. "WAKE UP!" He yelled as Naruto woke with a start and frantically looked around.

"Wha-Huh-What? What did I miss?" Naruto yelled. He saw Draxnew, Sasuke, and Sakura with their battle scars. "What happened?" He asked. Sakura told the same story to Naruto except this time she didn't tell Naruto about the mark on Sasuke. "We lost our scroll! This sucks!" Naruto yelled.

"Don't worry, those Oto guys left us an Earth Scroll." Draxnew said as he held it out for Naruto to see. "We need to get a Heaven Scroll…"

"Sasuke-kun, can you walk?" Sakura asked. Sasuke remained silent, but weakly stood up and nodded.

Draxnew went over to Sakura as Sasuke and Naruto went ahead. "Why didn't you tell Naruto about that mark?" He asked.

Sakura glanced at Naruto. "I just don't want him worrying about Sasuke, that's all. Please keep it a secret from him, alright?" She asked. Draxnew smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

A few days passed since then. It was early in the morning and Team Seven went to a river to catch fish. Naruto was jumping in the water to make the fish jump while Sasuke killed them with kunai. Draxnew was tending to a fire while Sakura watched him. Draxnew was hunched over and looked miserable. 'I wonder why he's like that.' Sakura thought.

Draxnew stared into the fire. 'Maybe I should've killed Larxene when I had the chance…that would've been one less Organization member to worry about…' Draxnew threw some sticks into the fire. 'What if the Organization still manages to find me? What then…?' Draxnew looked up and noticed Sakura looking at him. "…What?"

Sakura blinked and looked away. "Sorry, it's just that…" Sakura was interrupted by Naruto and Sasuke returning.

"You're such a dobe, you got a bunch of small fish." Sasuke said as he rammed sticks through the fish and set them up to cook.

Naruto pouted. "Shut up! If you don't like them, get some yourself then!" He yelled as he sat down by the fire to dry. 'I gotta snag the biggest one…' Naruto thought as he looked at the fish with a dumb grin.

After a while of awkward silence, the fish were done and everyone took one. "This is not good." Sasuke said. "It's already the fourth day, we have a little more than a day left." Sasuke took a large bite and swallowed. "The next team we come across with a Heaven Scroll may be our last chance. A lot of teams probably already finished, so as soon as we finish eating, we must try and find a team." The other three nodded silently.

After a few more minutes, everyone was done eating and Naruto got back into his usual outfit. "I'm ready to kick some ass!" He exclaimed. "Let's go!" For once his team smiled at his enthusiasm as they went towards the tower.

The team didn't notice that three Shinobi were watching them. The strangers vanished as well. After a few hours. The tower was finally in sight, but Team Seven had not met anybody on their way. "I'm really getting worried, guys." Sakura said. "What if there aren't any teams left?"

Sasuke was about to answer when he suddenly looked up. "We're being followed…" He said as he scanned the treetops. "I only just noticed…"

"Good observation skills!" A voice rang out. Three male Shinobi jumped from the treetops and landed in front of the team. The Shinobi in the middle, presumably the leader, was a tall individual. He had brown eyes and black makeup surrounding both eyes. He wore a gold-colored padded helmet which hid his hair. He wore black padded clothing and had many pockets, some big, and some small.

"Well now, it seems to be the last Uchiha." The boy to the leader's left sneered. The boy was a bit shorter than the leader, but was still intimidating. He had emerald eyes and brown hair, his skin had a very deep tan. He also had black makeup around his eyes. On his back was a holster with a spear in it. He wore padded clothes similar to the leader, except his were gold-colored. He grinned manically and twitched about as if he were covered in fleas, but tried to ignore them instead of scratching. "He's such a waste of an Uchiha, he doesn't even deserve Sunagakure's worst tomb."

A muffled laughter came from the leader's right. The boy who chuckled was very odd. From the neck up he was covered in bandages, the bandages themselves were very old and worn out and extremely dirty, as if he had worn them for years, how he was able to see was anyone's guess. The boy also had padded clothes, the top half was gold, and the bottom half was black. He was a bit taller than the boy with the spear. He stood stiff with his back straight and didn't move an inch. Each of them wore blue headbands with symbols that Gaara's group had and they all had them on their foreheads.

"We've been picking for a fight, those freaks with the respirators were far too easy!" The boy with the spear sneered. "We beat them in just a few minutes, right Konjiki?"

The leader grinned a wide, toothy grin. "That's right Joushiki. We're still a bit bored, so I guess we'll just take care of you to pass the time." He laughed as he got into a battle position as well as the bandaged boy while Joushiki got out his spear.

Sasuke glanced back at his team. "We have to take care of these guys, they are our last chance to pass this exam." Sasuke said. Team Seven got into fighting positions as Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Sasuke made some hand signs. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" He opened his mouth wide and spat out several balls of fire at the three Suna Shinobi.

Konjiki and his teammates dodged easily. The mummified Shinobi charged at Draxnew, who jumped over his head and kicked him dead center in the face. It didn't seem to do anything except make the boy's head flinch slightly. 'What the…I put a lot of power into that kick…' Draxnew summoned his sword as his opponent turned around slowly.

Naruto and Sakura were fighting Joushiki, the latter keeping them back with his spear. The Konoha Shinobi threw their kunai at Joushiki, but he simply knocked them away with his spear. While he was distracted, Naruto lunged at the taller boy and punched him hard in the gut, he staggered back and regained his composure. "You're gonna have to hit harder than that." He mocked as he kicked Naruto to the ground.

Sasuke and Konjiki were battling via taijutsu. Even with his Sharingan, Sasuke had trouble dodging the Suna Shinobi's attacks. "What's wrong, too fast for the almighty Sharingan?" Konjiki asked as one of his punched grazed Sasuke's scarred face. "This is pathetic to say the least."

Draxnew was getting angry, he could hit his opponent no problem, but his blows barely seemed to do any damaged to the bandages boy. 'Alright, that's it! This attack will work, I'm sure of it!' Draxnew charged at the slowly approaching Shinobi. "How do you like this?" The Nobody shouted. He raised his foot and kicked the mummified boy…right between the legs. A deep groan passed through the bandages as the Suna boy's knees buckled slightly.

Konjiki saw this out of the corner of his eye and winced slightly. He managed to dodge Sasuke's oncoming attacks and still look at his teammate. "You alright there Kofun?" He asked. The boy known as Kofun nodded slowly as his knees unbuckled and Draxnew jumped back.

"Ah, what the hell is with this guy?" Draxnew exclaimed as Kofun simply stood there. 'Why doesn't he attack?'

Konjiki kicked Sasuke away and turned to Kofun. "Alright, enough fooling around, destroy him." Konjiki turned back around just in time to dodge a punch from the enraged Uchiha.

Draxnew stared at his stiff opponent who suddenly leapt at Draxnew at an incredible speed. "What the?" Draxnew tried to dodge, but Kofun was too fast and landed a punch right in the Nobody's stomach. "Gah…" Draxnew was sent flying back into a tree, making a dent in it. 'Damn it…'

Joushiki stabbed at Naruto with his spear, who dodged the attack and then grabbed the spear and tugged it out of the Suna nin's hands. "Now, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled. Joushiki turned around just in time to block a punch from Sakura. He shoved her away and then turned to attack Naruto, but was struck in the face with the wooden end of his spear, snapping the weapon in half.

Sasuke was on the ground with Konjiki's foot pressed down on his neck. "This was far too easy…" The Suna nin sneered. He was suddenly forced off of Sasuke by Draxnew crashing into him. "Gah! What…?" He turned to see Kofun approaching the three Shinobi. "Kofun, you idiot! Can't you watch where you're…" He trailed off as he looked at Kofun's bandages. "Right…" He threw the slightly dazed Draxnew at Sasuke, who was getting back onto his feet, knocking both of them to the ground.

Draxnew and Sasuke got to their feet, the former summoning his Dark Sword. The Uchiha made some hand signs. "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" He yelled as a giant fireball shot towards the two Suna nin. The two dodged by jumping to the side. Sasuke leapt towards Kofun and kicked him hard on the side of the head, this seemed to be slightly effective, but even then Kofun, stayed in the spot where he landed. "What…?" Sasuke continued to rapidly strike the mummified opponent who barely budged from each attack. Sasuke got angry and packed all of his energy into a punch directed at Kofun's nose. The Suna Shinobi stumbled backwards a couple of steps while groaning lightly. 'I guess sheer force is all I need.'

Draxnew, meanwhile, charged at Konjiki, who kicked at the Nobody. Draxnew snapped his fingers and vanished. "What…where did he…?" Konjiki was suddenly kicked in the spine, he fell forward and rolled, regaining his posture. He saw Draxnew standing there. 'How did he get behind me? No matter, it was probably a fluke.'

Joushiki was having trouble, without his spear, all he could do was trying and use taijutsu against two opponents. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called as four Naruto's joined the fight. They surrounded the Suna nin and charged at him at the same time. Joushiki tried doing a sweeping kick, but the Narutos jumped over it and all kicked Joushiki. The clones kicked his midsection while the real Naruto kicked the opponent in the face.

While Joushiki was stunned, Sakura threw several ninja star, which hit the boys arms as he blocked. 'Damn it, this is bad…' The Suna Shinobi thought. "Kofun! Konjiki! I think it's time to go into formation!" He called.

Konjiki and Kofun suddenly ditched their fights and leapt to Joushiki's side. "I think you're right." He sneered and made some hand signs. "Doton: Rikujou Suii Suna no Jutsu!" Joushiki placed his hands on the ground and it glowed blue for a few seconds, and suddenly the four Konoha Shinobi were standing in sand.

"…Sand?" Draxnew said. "That's all you have?" His eyes suddenly widened in shock as he felt an odd pulling sensation in his feet and looked down. The four Genin were sinking into the sand. "Fuck, quicksand!"

Sasuke suddenly rose from the quicksand, as did Sakura and Naruto. Their feet glowed blue with chakra as they stood on top of the deadly trap. "It's a good think Kakashi taught us this trick before the exams started." Sakura said gratefully. She turned to Draxnew and hoisted him from the sand and held him up, as he couldn't use chakra.

"Oh no you don't!" Konjiki yelled. "Do it, Kofun!" The bandaged Shinobi made some hand seals and placed his palms on the quicksand, and a red glow pulsed through the trap. Suddenly, the blue glow on the Konoha Nin's feet vanished and the four of them plummeted back into the quicksand.

"What the hell…! I can't use my chakra!" Sasuke exclaimed as he tried in vain to step rise from the quicksand again. "He must be sucking out our chakra!"

"Damn it!" What are we gonna do now!" Naruto yelled as he thrashed uselessly about in the deadly sand.

Draxnew was having a panic attack. "No, no, no, no. I can't die like this. No, no, no, no." He kept muttering quietly in a crazed tone. 'I'll never see Xion again…Never!'

"Draxnew, you're not making this situation any better!" Sakura said, slightly calming down the Nobody. The Konoha Shinobi were at their waists at this point and couldn't reach their kunai easily. Draxnew tried throwing a shadow sphere at the trio, but Konjiki threw a kunai at the ball, making it explode. This seemed to surprise the Suna Shinobi.

"Seems like it's time to feed my pets…" Konjiki sneered as he made hand signs and bit his thumb, drawing some blood. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He slammed his hand onto the ground and a puff of smoke appeared, revealing a hundred emerald scarabs. "They haven't eaten in a while…"

The scarabs started to slowly crawl towards the trapped Shinobi. "Oh God…what are we going to do!" Draxnew yelled as he thrashed about like Naruto was.

"We can't use our chakra…so I have no idea!" Sasuke said, as the four Genin were up to their forearms in quicksand, and the scarabs were getting close as the Suna Shinobi laughed maniacally.

Draxnew calmed himself and thought. 'Maybe…a shadow orb in my mouth? I've never tried that, but it never hurts to do so now…' Draxnew concentrated his energy into his mouth where a sphere of darkness started forming. 'I have to aim for the bandaged guy!' Draxnew released his attack at Kofun, surprising the Suna Nin, so much that they didn't react in time and Kofun was hit, and the chakra-draining Jutsu was negated.

"Yes, way to go, Draxnew!" Naruto acknowledged as the three Konoha Shinobi rose from the sand once more, with Naruto bringing Draxnew up. "Let's get out of here!" The four of them quickly jumped from the quicksand, before Kofun could recover. "Let's get those scarabs! Sasuke!"

"Right! Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled, releasing a fireball that destroyed the scarabs. Konjiki and his team stepped away from the quicksand, which turned to normal sand.

"You killed my scarabs, you son of a bitch!" Konjiki roared. "How the hell did you even do that?" He turned to Kofun. "You were supposed to be draining their chakra!"

Kofun mumbled something through his bandages. The Konoha team couldn't make it out, but apparently the Suna Nin could understand, because Joushiki reiterated. "His chakra-absorption never fails! There must be something weird about that kid!"

"Enough! Forget the formation! We can still kill these guys easily!" Konjiki bellowed as he reached into one of his bigger pockets. Inside was a chain with a hook attached to the end. "Slaughter the lot!" Joushiki pulled a kunai out from a pouch, while Kofun merely stood there, like a mummified statue.

Sasuke immediately through a kunai at Konjiki, who used his chain weapon to catch it, and wielded it. "Too slow for…huh?" He heard a noise and saw an explosive tag burning on the kunai. "Fuck!" Before anyone body could do anything, the tag exploded, killing Konjiki, and sending his teammates to the ground.

Naruto and Sakura quickly rushed at Joushiki, while Draxnew and Sasuke charged at Kofun. Joushiki barely had enough time to get up before two Naruto clones kicked him back down, while Sakura and Naruto threw kunai at the Suna Shinobi's legs. "Give us the scroll!" Naruto yelled.

"N-Never!" Joushiki grunted as he gritted his teeth. "Besides, Kofun has it, and he'll be able to…" He stopped and saw that Kofun was already dead, having been quickly overpowered by Draxnew and Sasuke. Draxnew pulled the sword from Kofun's neck as he and Sasuke walked to their teammates. "ALRIGHT! I'll give you the scroll!" He shouted in a desperate tone as he took a Heaven Scroll from his pocket and threw it to the ground. "J-Just leave me-"

Draxnew didn't let the frightened Suna Nin finish, he stabbed him in the heart. "Die, you son of a bitch!" Joushiki gurgled and tried in vain to remove the sword before drawing his last breath. Draxnew bent down and got the scroll. "Alright! We have our scrolls!" He exclaimed.

The four Genin walked to the tower, in the chaos of that battle, they hadn't realized they were quite close. "I wish you wouldn't keep killing like that…" Sakura said to Draxnew. "It makes me nervous."

Draxnew smiled, as if she just complimented him. "I couldn't let him live, not after what he tried to do…" He replied, still smiling.

"I can't believe we're almost done!" Naruto exclaimed brightly as they reached the tower. "Time to end this exam!"

**Wow…that took a LONG time, huh? Look, I was extremely busy with school, I have my other story I'm writing to work on, so things have been hectic. I'll try, I repeat try to not have you guys wait so long for the next chapter. As always, PeinsDisciple helped me out. He came up with the Suna trio's Egyptian theme and their abilities.**


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